UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


421 


Rural  problems  of 
•day. 


Missing  RBR  Je  1936 


Library  Bureau  Cat.  no.   lTol-1 


UN1VE3RSTTY  of  CALFORNDL 

AT 

5  ANGELES 
LIBRARY. 


RURAL  PROBLEMS  OP  TODAY 


4629       6 


RURAL  PROBLEMS 
OF  TODAY 


ERNEST  R.  GROVES 

Author  of  "Moral  Sanitation,"  "Using  the  Resources  of 
the  Country  Church,"  etc. 


ASSOCIATION     PRESS 

NEW  YORK:  124  EAST  28™   STREET 
1918 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMITTEE  OF 

THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 


7  :: 

J         a  , 


Hr 


:. 


To 
GLADYS  HOAGLAND 

WHOSE  UNSELFISH  AND  INTELLIGENT  CARE  OF 

CATHERINE  AND  ERNESTINE 

HAS  JUSTIFIED  THE  ABSOLUTE  CONFIDENCE 

OF  THEIR  MOTHER 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  written  for  the  men  and 
women  who  love  the  country  and  are 
interested  in  its  social  welfare.  For- 
tunately there  are  many  such,  and  each 
year  their  number  is  increasing. 

Rural  life  has  as  many  sides  as  there 
are   human   interests.      This   book   looks 
out  upon  country-life  conditions  from  a 
$v    viewpoint    comparatively    neglected.      It 
attempts    to    approach    rural    social    life 
'      from  the  psychological  angle.     The  pur- 
-L     pose  of  the  book  forces  it  from  the  well- 
beaten  pathways,  but  this  effort  to  give 
£.   emphasis    to    the    mental    side    of    rural 
^    problems  is  not  an  attempt  to  discount 
^    the  other  significant  aspects  of  the  rural 
environment.     The  field  of  rural   service 
is  large  enough  to  contain  all  who  desire 
by    serious    study    to    advance    at    some 
point  the  happiness,  prosperity,  and  whole- 
someness  that  belong  by  social  right  to 
those  who  live  and  work  in  the  country, 
vii 


viii  PREFACE 

The  author  desires  to  thank  the  fol- 
lowing for  the  privilege  of  using  material 
previously  published:  American  Sociolog- 
ical Society,  American  Journal  of  So- 
ciology, National  Conference  of  Social 
Work,  Association  Press,  and  Rural  Man- 
hood. 

E.  R.  G. 
Durham,  N.  H. 
April  1,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

^  I.  THE  RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE 

COUNTRY  HOME 1 

II.  THE  FAMILY  IN  OUR  COUNTRY 

LIFE 15 

III.  THE    RURAL    WORKER    AND    THE 

COUNTRY  SCHOOLS 41  *^ 

IV.  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE 

RURAL  WORKER 53  ^ 

V.  MENTAL  HYGIENE  IN  RURAL  DIS- 
TRICTS      71 

VI.  THE    SOCIAL    VALUE    OF    RURAL 

EXPERIENCE 89 

VII.  RURAL  vs.  URBA ^  ENVIRONMENT  . .   lOS-r**5 

VIII.  THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER 117  ' 

IX.  PSYCHIC   CAUSES   OF   RURAL   MI- 
GRATION     135  '- 

X.  RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES 149 

XI.  THE  WORLD-WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE.  169 


THE  RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE 
COUNTRY  HOME 


THE  RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE 
COUNTRY  HOME 

With  reference  to  the  care  of  children, 
faulty  homes  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes.  There  are  homes  that  give  the 
children  too  little  care  and  there  are 
homes  that  give  them  too  much.  The 
failure  of  the  first  type  of  home  is  ob- 
vious. Children  need  a  great  deal  of 
wise,  patient,  and  kindly  care.  Even  the 
lower  animals  require,  when  domesticated, 
considerable  care  from  their  owners,  if 
they  are  to  be  successfully  brought  from 
infancy  to  maturity.  Of  course  children 
need  greater  care.  No  one  doubts  this. 
And  yet  it  is  certainly  true  that  there 
are,  even  in  these  days  of  widespread 
intelligence,  many  homes  where  the  chil- 
dren obtain  too  little  care  and  in  one  way 
or  another  are  seriously  neglected. 

The    harmfulness    of    the    homes    that 


4  RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

give  their  children  too  much  care  is  not 
so  generally  realized  as  is  the  danger 
of  the  careless  and  selfish  home,  although, 
in  a  general  way,  everyone  acknowledges 
that  children  may  be  given  too  much 
attention.  The  difficulty  is  to  determine 
when  a  particular  child  is  being  given 
too  much  adult  supervision  and  too  little 
freedom.  No  one  would  question  the 
fact  that  a  child  can  become  an  adult 
only  by  a  decrease  of  adult  control  and 
an  increase  of  personal  responsibility. 
Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  a  general  belief 
that  a  child  needs  an  opportunity  to  win 
self-government,  there  are  parents  not  a 
few  who,  from  love  and  anxiety,  run 
into  the  danger  of  protecting  and  con- 
trolling their  children  too  much.  The 
father  or  mother  spends  too  much  time 
with  the  children.  The  children  are  pam- 
pered. Too  many  indulgences  are  per- 
mitted them.  Children  in  these  over- 
careful  homes  are  likely  to  grow  up 
neurotic,  conceited,  timid,  babyish,  day- 
dreaming men  and  women,  who  are  of 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE  HOME   5 

little  use  in  the  world  and  are  often  a 
serious  problem  for  normal  people.  Prob- 
ably this  second  type  of  a  deficient  home 
is  more  dangerous  than  the  first,  for 
children  without  sufficient  home  care  often 
discover  a  substitute  for  their  loss,  but 
the  over-protected  children  can  obtain  no 
antidote  for  their  misfortune. 

Everyone  knows  that  attacks  are  in- 
creasingly being  made  upon  the  home 
in  its  present  form  by  people  who  regard 
it  as  inefficient  or  as  an  anachronism.  It 
is  usually  thought,  however,  that  these 
attacks  come  mostly  from  agitators  who 
set  themselves  more  or  less  in  opposition 
to  all  the  institutions  established  by  the 
present  social  order.  Perhaps  for  this 
reason  many  do  not  believe  that  the 
family  is  receiving  any  serious  criticism 
and  its  satisfactory  functioning  is  there- 
fore taken  for  granted.  Such  an  easy- 
going optimism  is  not  justified,  for  criti- 
cism of  the  home  is  coming  from  science 
as  well  as  from  the  agitators.  For  exam- 
ple read  "The  Deforming  Influences  of 


6          RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

the  Home,"  by  Dr.  Helen  W.  Brown, 
which  appeared  in  the  Journal  of  Ab- 
normal Psychology  for  April,  1917.  She 
writes  in  one  place  as  follows: 

"Small  wonder,  then,  if  we  begin  to 
see  that  many  of  the  mental  ills  that 
afflict  men  are  not  due,  as  has  been  com- 
monly supposed,  to  lack  of  home  training 
and  the  deteriorating  influence  of  the 
world,  but  to  too  much  home,  to  a  narrow 
environment  which  has  often  deformed 
his  mind  at  the  start  and  given  him  a 
bias  that  can  only  be  overcome  through 
painful  adjustments  and  bitter  experience." 

The  psychoanalysts  and  the  clinic  psy- 
chologists are  gathering  material  all  the 
time  that  illustrates  the  bad  results  of 
home  influences,  and  soon  the  agitator 
will  be  using  this  as  proof  of  the  harm- 
fulness  of  the  home  as  an  institution. 
Some  of  us  believe  that  no  skepticism  can 
be  more  dangerous  socially  than  that 
relating  to  the  value  of  the  home.  The 
best  protection  of  the  home  must  come 
from  its  moral  efficiency  and  this  cannot 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE  HOME   7 

be  obtained  if  people  are  unwilling  to 
face  reasonable  and  constructive  criticism 
of  the  present  working  of  the  home.  It 
is  natural  for  the  adult  looking  backward 
to  his  childhood  to  assume  too  much  for 
the  home,  and  then  to  transfer  his  emo- 
tion and  his  sense  of  the  value  of  his 
home  experience  to  the  present  family 
as  an  institution.  With  this  enormous 
prejudice  he  refuses  to  see  how  often  the 
family  influence  is  morally  and  socially 
bad.  It  would  surprise  such  a  person  at 
least  to  read  an  article  like  Emerson's 
"The  Psychopathology  of  the  Family" 
which  recently  appeared  in  The  Journal 
of  Abnormal  Psychology.  Material  show- 
ing the  unhappy  results  of  inefficient 
family  influences  may  be  found  in  nearly 
any  number  of  the  Psychoanalytic  Review. 

There  appear  to  be  three  causes  of  the 
unwholesomeness  of  home  influences:  lack 
of  competition  between  homes,  insufficient 
science  regarding  the  home  problems,  and 
the  pleasure  basis  of  family  organization. 

First:  There  is  np  competition  between 


8          RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

homes.  This  is  a  most  strikingly  peculiar 
situation.  The  home  is  competed  against 
by  other  institutions,  such  as  the  saloon, 
the  moving  picture,  and  the  like,  but  as 
between  homes  there  is  no  competition 
whatever.  Home  life  is  a  private  affair. 
Public  opinion  rules  that  it  remain  private. 
Nothing  is  sooner  or  more  seriously  re- 
sented than  interference  with  or  criticism 
of  the  home  life  of  the  individual.  Pro- 
fessional men,  such  as  doctors,  lawyers, 
and  ministers,  and  business  men  compete 
with  one  another,  and  from  this  competi- 
tion comes  constant,  sane  change  and 
progress.  But  in  the  home,  there  being 
no  competition,  methods  of  home  manage- 
ment, however  bad,  go  on  without  change. 
Parents  never  realize  their  habitual  care- 
lessness in  home  life.  The  scientists  are 
seeking  to  bring  some  sort  of  competition 
into  home  life,  but  they  are  under  a  very 
heavy  handicap.  In  fact  this  handicap 
is  greater  now  than  formerly,  for  our 
forefathers  made  long  visits  with  each 
other,  sometimes  staying  for  weeks  in  one 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE  HOME   9 

home,  thus  giving  ample  opportunity  for 
valuable  criticisms  and  suggestions  from 
guest  to  host. 

Second:  Bringing  up  children  is  really 
a  scientific  task  and  requires  scientific 
information.  But  to  obtain  scientific  in- 
formation of  practical  value  relating  to 
the  home  is  a  baffling  proposition.  Human 
instincts  and  child  development  have  been 
studied  very  little.  We  have  theorized  a 
great  deal  about  such  problems,  but  we 
have  a  remarkably  small  fund  of  actual 
accurate  information.  Such  knowledge  as 
we  have  recorded  has  been  mostly  ob- 
tained by  parents,  who  have,  of  course, 
been  prejudiced.  In  such  cases  we  seldom 
know  the  later  history  of  the  child  or 
the  character  of  the  home  management 
and  the  actual  contribution  that  the  home 
made  as  compared  with  other  influences. 
Men  who  have  had  to  consider  the  entire 
history  of  an  individual,  who  comes  to 
the  mind  specialist  for  treatment  because 
of  some  abnormality  of  mental  or  moral 
character,  are  gathering  a  great  deal  of 


10   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

valuable  material  regarding  family  influ- 
ences, but  much  of  this  is  in  regard  to 
men  and  women  who  in  one  way  or 
another  have  been  social  failures.  We 
have  no  material  at  present  of  equal 
value  in  regard  to  the  persons  who  in  a 
popular  sense  are  "normal  individuals." 
Such  valuable  information  as  we  already 
have,  we  are  not  very  seriously  trying 
to  distribute.  Yet,  fortunately,  a  begin- 
ning has  been  made  and  the  entire  prob- 
lem is  receiving  an  attention  that  it  has 
never  before  had. 

Third:  People  are  finding  it  difficult  to 
accept  the  responsibilities  that  belong  to 
family  life.  Modern  men  and  women 
more  and  more  are  basing  the  home  upon 
pleasure  and  comfort  and  personal  advan- 
tages in  a  narrow  and  thoughtless  sense. 
When  the  crucial  tests  of  family  fitness 
come  with  the  children,  the  parents  fail. 
They  have  had  little  specific  training  for 
their  greatest  obligation  and  under  such 
circumstances  it  is  strange  only  that  so 
often  they  do  not  greatly  fail.  Children 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE  HOME  11 

are  often  unwelcome  when  they  come  into 
the  home.  Their  coming  disturbs  the  easy- 
going pleasure  regime  of  the  household 
and  as  they  become  somewhat  of  a  burden 
to  the  father  and  mother,  their  interests 
are  compromised,  that  their  parents  may 
continue  to  have  some  of  the  freedom 
which  they  enjoyed  before  the  children 
came.  Imagination  cannot  prepare  for  ex- 
perience in  such  a  degree  as  to  make  it  pos- 
sible for  those  who  marry  to  realize  the 
possible  responsibilities  of  their  choice.  Be- 
cause of  this  they  often  are  found  to  have 
undertaken  tasks  against  which  in  their 
heart  of  hearts  they  protest.  It  is  natural 
for  them,  with  such  an  internal  dissatis- 
faction, not  to  commit  themselves  fully 
or  sufficiently  to  the  needs  of  their  children. 
Of  one  fact  there  is  no  doubt.  Mod- 
ern science  is  all  the  time  illustrating 
that  early  childhood,  the  period  when  the 
influence  of  parents  counts  most,  is  the 
most  significant  of  all  the  life  of  the 
individual.  Diseases  and  weaknesses  of  a 
physical  character  that  originate  in  early 


12    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

life  bring  about  physical  results  that  show 
in  later  life.  The  same  fact  is  true,  but 
not  so  easily  seen,  with  reference  to 
mental,  moral,  and  social  characteristics. 
The  influence  of  the  parents  upon  the 
thinking  of  the  child  is  particularly  im- 
portant. A  child  must  be  trained  to 
think  rightly  early  in  life.  He  should  be 
saved  from  a  fanciful,  dreamy  life.  He 
should  be  made  to  face  real  conditions, 
for  only  as  he  tussles  with  reality  is  he 
prepared  to  enter  the  relationships  later 
demanded  of  mature  adults.  In  all  this 
he  is  much  influenced  by  his  parents.  At 
times  real  ability  in  the  child  to  meet 
his  tasks  with  childish  heroism  is  crushed 
by  his  parents  and  his  entire  life  spoiled. 

The  county  worker,  the  minister,  and 
the  social  leader  in  the  country  must  in 
their  work  consider  seriously  the  needs  of 
the  home.  The  great  war  will  surely  put 
a  new  strain  upon  the  family.  One  result 
is  likely  to  be  a  freer  relation  between  the 
sexes.  Women  now  in  new  occupations, 
because  of  the  demands  for  labor  due  to 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE  HOME     13 

war  conditions,  are  likely  to  remain  in 
considerable  numbers.  This  will  influence 
the  home  status.  Schools  are  becoming 
more  and  more  efficient  and  are  taking 
over  more  of  the  home  functions.  Good 
social  service  in  the  country  will  encour- 
age the  home  to  use  more  fully  its  oppor- 
tunities, to  accept  all  its  possible  functions. 
It  is  well  not  to  be  in  a  hurry  to  take  as 
our  work  that  which  the  home  fails  to 
accomplish.  The  bad  families,  on  the 
other  hand,  should  be  stripped  of  all 
functions  possible.  Such  homes  cannot 
be  "eaten  up'*  too  soon. 

Training  should  be  provided  for  parents 
in  the  country.  Some  of  this  type  of 
social  service  is  already  being  carried  on 
in  the  cities.  It  is  equally  needed  in  the 
country.  Put  on  work  for  parents  and 
get  them  to  come.  Bring  in  men  who 
have  practical  messages  of  real  value  to 
parents.  Don't  seek  to  get  a  crowd.  Lead 
country  idealism  to  concrete  problems. 
For  example,  attempt  to  lower  the  death 
rate  by  making  information  regarding 


14    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

health  more  popular.  Drive  the  patent 
medicines  from  their  stronghold.  Intro- 
duce the  more  thoughtful  people  to  the 
work  of  the  Life  Extension  Institute. 

Do  not  forget  the  human  need  of  in- 
spiration. People  know  more  now  than 
they  use.  Get  speakers  who  can  inspire 
parents  to  activity.  Only  keep  the  in- 
spiration from  being  dissipated.  Connect 
with  actual  problems  the  interest  awakened 
by  good  speakers.  Insist  upon  enriching 
and  encouraging  the  home  through  the 
contributions  of  earnest  talks  upon  home 
problems.  Don't  expect  cold  science  to 
accomplish  with  country  people  what  it 
is  unable  to  do  in  the  city.  Inspiration 
and  instruction  are  both  required. 


THE  FAMILY  IN  OUR  COUNTRY  LIFE 


II 

THE  FAMILY  IN  OUR  COUNTRY  LIFE1 

There  is  in  our  modern  life  nothing  more 
significant  than  the  increasing  social  dis- 
content regarding  the  present  status  of 
the  home.  Criticism  of  our  family  con- 
ditions comes  both  from  the  enemies  and 
from  the  friends  of  the  home.  A  radical 
and  vigorous  school  of  thought  finds  in 
the  family  of  today  a  mere  social  and 
moral  anachronism,  to  be  pushed  aside  as 
quickly  as  possible.  Another  group  of 
thinkers,  on  the  other  hand,  sees  in  the 
changes  that  are  already  taking  place  in 
the  conditions  of  family  life,  a  hopeless 
deterioration.  In  such  a  turmoil  of  social 
controversy  there  is  at  least  unmistakable 
evidence  that  the  home  is  passing  through 
a  period  of  readjustment.  This  much 
is  clear:  changes  in  our  manner  of  life 

Published  as  a  part  of  the  report  of  the  fifth  Country 
Life  Conference  by  Association  Press  under  the  title, 
"The  Home  of  The  Countryside." 
17 


18   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

have  placed  a  strain  upon  the  family 
that  it  cannot  successfully  withstand  with- 
out greater  efficiency. 

Any  effort  to  determine  the  value  and 
obligations  of  the  family,  whether  urban 
or  rural,  requires  first  of  all  a  clear  state- 
ment of  the  significant  places  of  irrita- 
tion, where  at  present  the  family  is  meet- 
ing strain  that  makes  readjustment  nec- 
essary. These  may  be  classified  as  diffi- 
culties created  by  changes  in: 

1.  The   equipment   or   environment   of 

the  family. 

2.  The  function  of  the  family. 

3.  The  internal  adjustment  of  the  family. 
Regarding   the   family   equipment,   the 

situation  in  the  city  is  certainly  radically 
different  from  what  it  was.  The  usual 
dwelling  place  of  the  home  was,  in  former 
times,  a  house  which  the  family  occupied 
exclusively.  It  made  home  seclusion  and 
family  fellowship  easy  and  gave  the  family 
group  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  its 
place  of  living.  For  an  increasing  number 
of  people,  this  type  of  dwelling  place  no 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  19 

longer  exists.  In  its  place  we  have  the 
flat,  the  hotel,  and  the  apartment  house. 
The  new  conditions  do  not  provide  the 
present  family  with  a  favorable  equip- 
ment. The  seclusion  of  the  family  is 
largely  removed.  The  fellowship  within 
the  family  circle  is  greatly  decreased  be- 
cause of  the  limitations  of  the  place  of 
abode,  and  the  increased  attraction  of 
places  of  amusement  outside,  made  nec- 
essary because  of  the  failure  of  the  home 
to  give  satisfactory  recreation.  Of  course, 
the  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  the 
place  of  habitation  is  almost  entirely 
destroyed.  Such  is  the  equipment  fur- 
nished the  family  by  modern  city  life. 
In  the  country,  however,  the  family  has 
had  little  significant  change  in  its  equip- 
ment. 

The  largest  function  of  the  family  is  i 
its  moral  training.  It  is  this  service 
which  has  made  the  family  the  most  im- 
portant element  in  our  past  civilization. 
Were  the  family  of  the  future  to  fail 
morally,  it  would  be  hard  to  imagine  how 


20        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

its  existence  could  be  justified.  Without 
doubt  this  moral  function  of  the  family 
has  centered  about  the  children.  The 
conditions  of  modern  urban  life,  however, 
tend  to  make  the  moral  training  of  the 
child  by  the  home  increasingly  difficult. 
The  city  dwelling  does  not  offer  the  child 
a  normal  opportunity  for  his  play.  The 
school  and  other  institutions  have  to  take 
over  service  formerly  rendered  the  child 
in  the  home.  In  a  large  number  of  cases 
the  urban  home  regards  the  child  as 
merely  a  burden  and  therefore  in  such 
homes  every  effort  is  made  to  have  no 
children  born.  This  prevents  the  home 
from  attempting  the  moral  service  for 
which  it  exists.  Instead,  the  futile  at- 
tempt is  made  to  build  up  an  enduring, 
satisfying  home  life  upon  the  basis  of  the 
mere  personal  pleasure  of  husband  and 
wife.  In  the  country  we  find  the  home, 
for  the  most  part,  attempting  to  carry 
out  its  former  function  as  an  educational 
and  moral  institution. 

The  most  serious  difficulty  in  our  present 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE          21 

family  appears  to  be  internal.  Economic 
changes  have  brought  women,  to  a  very 
great  degree,  into  industry  as  wage  earners. 
Women  are  at  present  earning  a  liveli- 
hood in  almost  every  form  of  occupation. 
New  ethical  and  political  ideas,  in  addi- 
tion to  this  great  economic  change  in 
woman's  life,  have  influenced  her  status. 
She  no  longer  has  to  marry  in  order  to 
obtain  the  necessities  of  life.  She  can 
become  a  wage  earner.  If  she  marries, 
she  brings  into  her  new  state  of  living 
the  sense  of  independence  that  has  come 
to  her  from  her  experiences  as  a  wage 
earner.  In  many  cases,  after  marriage 
she  continues  to  work  away  from  the  home 
for  wages.  Marriage,  as  it  used  to  be, 
made  no  provision  for  the  new  status 
of  woman.  It  assumed  a  dependence,  a 

^— *^- 

subordination,  and  a  limitation  to  which 
in  these  days  many  women  refuse  to 
assent.  This  internal  change  in  the  con- 
ditions of  home  life  brings  about  a  host 
of  difficulties  that  require  satisfactory 
adjustment  if  the  living  together  of 


22        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

the  husband  and  wife  is  to  be  a  happy 
one. 

In  the  country  the  demand  for  this 
new  adjustment  is  less  serious,  for  there, 
to  a  greater  degree  than  in  the  city,  there 
are  women  who  have  not  claimed  their 
new  status. 

The  rural  home  with  reference  to  its 
equipment,  function,  and  internal  adjust- 
ment appears  superior  to  the  city  home. 
When  this  conclusion  is  reached,  many 
students  of  rural  problems  are  content 
to  drop  the  discussion  of  the  rural  family. 
Such  an  attitude  of  satisfaction  concern- 
ing the  country  home  is  neither  logical 
nor  safe.  It  may  well  be  that  the  country 
family  will  meet  the  strain  due  to  modern 
changes  later  than  the  urban  family, 
but  sooner  or  later  it  will  have  to  face 
the  need  of  new  adjustment.  Only  time 
itself  can  disclose  whether  the  country 
home  will  find  serious  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  its  final  adjustment  to  the  sig- 
nificant changes  of  modern  life.  There  is 
certainly  little  security  in  the  fact  that 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  23 

numerous  country  families  have  as  yet 
been  insensible  to  the  matrimonial  unrest 
so  characteristic  of  urban  people.  What 
has  ccme  first  to  the  urban  centers  must, 
sooner  or  later,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
enter  country  life.  Indeed,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  doubt  that  family  discontent  is 
growing  in  the  country. 

The  important   question,   however,   to 
the  moral  and  social  worker  is  whether 
the  country  is  obtaining  all  that  it  should 
from  its  superior  family  opportunity.    As- 
suming that  it  is  healthier  than  the  city, 
with  reference  to  the  equipment,  function, 
and  adjustment  of  the  family,  it  is  reason-  , 
able  to  ask,  "What  are  the  obstacles  that/' 
keep  the  country  home  from  making  its 
largest  moral  contribution  to  society?" 

One  fault  with  some  country  homes 
stands  out  on  the  surface.  The  wife  is 
too  much  a  drudge.  Her  life  is  too 
narrow  and  too  hard.  This  type  of  home 
is  passing,  no  doubt,  but  it  has  by  no 
means  passed.  This  kind  of  woman  may 
be  little  influenced  by  new  thought,  and 


24    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

may  think  her  situation  as  natural  for 
her  as  it  was  for  her  mother.  Whatever 
her  personal  attitude,  however,  from  the 
very  nature  of  things  she  is  unable  to 
make  a  significant  moral  contribution 
through  her  family  duties.  There  will  be 
striking  exceptions,  of  course,  but  the 
general  rule  will  stand — in  modern  life  the 
woman  drudge  makes  a  poor  mother.  The 
fact  that  she  is  less  likely  to  rebel  against 
her  hard  condition  than  her  urban  sister, 
does  not  remove  the  dangers  of  her 
situation.  And  it  is  well  for  the  lover  of 
country  welfare  to  remember  that  even 
when  the  wife  accepts  with  no  complaint 
the  hardness  of  her  lot,  she  often  blames 
her  husband's  occupation,  farming,  for  her 
misfortune,  and  becomes  a  rural  pessimist, 
urging  her  children  neither  to  farm  nor 
to  marry  farmers.  Her  deep,  instinctive 
protest  appears  through  suggestion  in  the 
cravings  of  her  children  for  urban  life 
and  urban  occupation. 

The  housekeeping   problem   is   for   the 
woman  on  the  farm  seldom  an  easy  one, 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  25 

but,  nevertheless,  conditions  that  make  of 
the  farmer's  wife  an  overworked  house 
slave  are  in  these  days  of  labor-saving 
devices  without  excuse.  In  any  case, 
such  a  family  situation  in  the  country, 
whatever  its  cause,  must  be  regarded  as 
pathological. 

Sex  has  too  large  a  place  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  rural  family.  One  of 
the  advantages  of  the  country  family  of 
which  we  hear  much  is  the  general  tendency 
toward  earlier  marriages  than  in  the  city. 
Without  doubt  marriages,  as  a  rule,  do 
occur  earlier  among  country  people.  This 
fact  is  significant  in  more  ways  than 
most  writers  recognize.  A  very  thought- 
ful student  of  the  American  family,  Mrs. 
Parsons,  has  called  attention  to  the  social 
importance  of  the  fact  that  after  ma- 
turity mental  and  moral  traits  are  more 
likely  to  influence  the  choice  than  merely 
physical  traits.  In  other  words,  the  earlier 
marriages  are  more  likely  to  be  influenced 
by  sex  interests — using  the  term  in  a 
narrow  sense — than  are  the  later  mar- 


26    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

riages.  This  brings  no  social  problem  to 
the  minds  of  those  who  see  in  marriage, 
for  the  most  part,  merely  physical  attrac- 
tion and  relations.  The  movement  of 
human  experience  seems,  however,  on  the 
whole,  to  be  away  from  such  a  concep- 
tion of  marriage.  Although  the  postpone- 
ment of  marriage  requires  for  social  wel- 
fare a  greater  moral  self-control,  we  have 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  we  must 
gain  social  health  by  a  higher  moral 
idealism  rather  than  by  a  return  to  the 
earlier  marriage  of  former  generations. 
In  that  case,  to  a  considerable  degree, 
the  earlier  marrying  of  the  country  people 
discloses  that  they  have  not  as  yet  felt 
the  full  force  of  the  modern  causes  that 
make  for  later  marriages.  Earlier  mar- 
riages may  be  indeed  happier,  but  they 
are  often  narrower. 

A  recent  writer  tells  us  that  the  vices 
of  the  country  are  the  vices  of  isolation. 
Sex  difficulties  arise  spontaneously  and 
require  no  commercial  exploitation  when 
young  people  live  a  barren  and  narrow 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  27 

life  without  ideals.  This  emphasis  of  sex 
is  expressed  not  merely  in  immorality  and 
illegitimacy,  but  also  in  a  precocious  in- 
terest in  sex  and  in  a  precocious  court- 
ship. Early  marriage,  therefore,  often 
represents  the  reaction  from  an  uninterest- 
ing and  empty  environment  and,  however 
fortunate  in  itself,  certainly  does  not 
demonstrate  a  socially  wholesome  sit- 
uation. 

To  contrast  the  divorce  situation  in  the 
country  with  that  in  the  city  also  fails 
to  give  the  basis  for  social  optimism  that 
the  facts  are  often  used  to  prove.  Public 
opinion  has  more  to  do  with  actions  than 
law,  and  at  present  the  general  attitude 
toward  the  granting  of  divorce  is  more 
conservative  in  the  country  than  in  the 
city.  The  reason  for  this  difference  is, 
in  large  measure,  the  fact  that  once  again 
the  country  shows  itself  less  sensitive  to 
the  changes  that  are  taking  place  with 
reference  to  the  conditions  of  marriage. 
It  certainly  is  not  safe  to  assume  that  the 
unhappy  marriages  in  the  country  are  in 


28    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

proportion  to  the  number  of  divorces. 
It  is  more  likely  that  unless  the  urban 
attitude  changes,  in  time  the  country  will 
come  to  feel  toward  divorces  much  as 
city  people  do  at  present. 

It  is  important  to  notice  that,  although 
legal  divorce  is  frowned  upon,  there  is 
often  a  considerable  social  indifference  to 
the  loose  living  together  of  men  and 
women.  Two  clergymen  at  work  in  a 
rural  community  of  about  a  thousand 
people  recently  stated  that  there  were  in 
the  community  at  least  forty  unmarried 
people  living  together  as  husband  and 
wife.  Later,  I  was  informed  by  another 
resident  of  the  town  that  the  clergymen 
had  not  exaggerated  the  situation.  And 
yet  I  doubt  not  that  the  community  had 
a  rather  low  divorce  record.  It  is  very 
interesting  how  the  moral  code  of  a  com- 
munity may  be  strict  at  one  point,  while 
lenient  at  another.  In  some  rural  com- 
munities, at  least,  one  may  find  an  in- 
consistent public  opinion  that  expresses 
very  rigid  hostility  to  divorce  and  little 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  29 

practical  opposition  to  lax  sex  relations. 
The  low  attitude  toward  the  sex  element 
in  marriage  and  the  coarse  viewpoint  dis- 
closed by  conversation  often  surprise  the 
country  visitor  who  is  not  acquainted  with 
the  occasional  inconsistency  of  rural  ethics. 
Judging  the  standing  of  married  life  by 
infrequent  divorces  and  rather  early  mar- 
riage, he  is  painfully  disconcerted  to  dis- 
cover that  the  marriage  ideal  is  neverthe- 
less mean  and  lacking  in  social  inspiration. 
A  third  criticism  is  deserved  by  the 
rural  family,  namely,  its  failure  to  make 
use  of  its  social  opportunity.  It  is  easy 
to  demonstrate  the  greater  normality  of 
the  rural  family  as  compared  with  the 
urban  family,  with  respect  to  the  family 
conditions  that  make  possible  an  efficient 
home  life.  It  is  not  always  true,  however, 
that  these  superior  family  opportunities 
are  of  social  value.  It  is  true  that  children 
are  generally  valued  in  the  rural  home. 
This  is,  at  times,  for  the  supposed  eco- 
nomic help  the  children  are  expected  to 
be  to  the  parents,  rather  than  because 


30        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

of  an  unselfish  regard  for  the  children, 
as  a  moral  opportunity.  It  is  true  that 
the  home  generally  counts  for  more  in 
the  life  of  the  country  child  than  in  that 
of  the  city  child.  This  by  no  means 
proves  that  the  greater  home  influence  is 
always  a  social  asset.  The  home  may 
penetrate  the  child's  life  deeply  and  yet 
affect  it  badly.  If  the  home  means  more, 
the  character  of  the  home  comes  to  have 
a  larger  meaning;  what  the  significance 
of  the  home  influence  may  be,  is  deter- 
mined by  the  type  of  the  home.  A 
greater  opportunity  for  family  fellowship 
is  naturally  offered  by  the  rural  home,  but 
this  fellowship  opportunity  works  both 
ways.  The  closer  contact  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  family  often  results  in  bring- 
ing all  of  them  down  to  a  low  level  of 
culture.  The  base  attitude  of  one  or  of 
both  parents  toward  life  may  poison  each 
child's  aspiration  as  he  advances  into 
maturity.  The  neighborhood  relation, 
which  brings  several  families  into  close 
contact,  often  permits  a  vicious  child  of 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  31 

one  family  to  initiate  many  children  from 
various  homes  into  sex  experiences  in  such 
an  unwholesome  way  that  purity  of  mind 
becomes  very  difficult  later  on,  whether 
the  illicit  intercourse  comes  to  an  end 
or  not. 

Rural  people  are  too  likely  to  be  con- 
tent with  their  superior  family  conditions. 
There  is  real  need  for  an  emphasis  upon 
the  proper  use  of  these  opportunities. 
The  conscientious  urban  parent  is  stim- 
ulated to  his  best  by  the  rivalry  of  other 
attractions  that  attempt  to  exploit  his 
child.  The  rural  parent  has  no  security 
in  the  greater  natural  advantages  of  the 
country  home.  Everything  depends  upon 
the  way  the  rural  home  makes  use  of  its 
opportunity.  The  rural  church,  especially, 
should  take  to  heart  this  remarkably 
significant  fact. 

No  institution  in  the  country  has  the 
importance  of  the  family.  Good  moral 
strategy  requires,  therefore,  that  effort  be 
made  to  make  the  rural  home  happy  and 
wholesome.  The  needs  of  rural  people 


32    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

are  indeed  many,  but  there  is  no  need 
greater  than  the  fullest  development  of 
the  opportunities  for  moral  progress  pro- 
vided by  the  conditions  of  family  life  in 
the  country.  It  would  seem  as  if  one 
principle  should  always  be  observed — no 
effort  is  wholly  good  that  looks  toward  a 
substitution  for  family  responsibility.  It 
is  also  true  that  the  family  will  not  again 
have  the  moral  monopoly  of  the  child. 
Necessary  as  it  may  be,  in  certain  cases, 
to  allow  the  family  to  farm  out  its  im- 
portant functions  to  some  other  institu- 
tion, this  condition  ought  always  to  be 
recognized  as  unfortunate.  The  better 
way  of  making  permanent  progress  is 
effort  that  encourages  the  family  to  make 
better  use  of  its  neglected  opportunities. 

First  of  all,  the  rural  home  needs  to 
be  spiritualized.  Of  course,  there  is  equal 
need  of  spiritualizing  the  urban  home,  but 
that  problem  does  not  concern  us  now. 
Objections  are  sure  to  be  raised  against 
any  rural  program  that  bases  itself  upon 
an  attempt  to  emphasize  idealism  and 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE          33 

a  spiritual  interpretation  of  experiences. 
There  is,  however,  no  other  way.  Material 
progress  will  neither  content  nor  elevate 
country  life.  Contact  with  nature  is  so 
close  and  constant  that  when  spiritual 
insight  is  lacking  there  is  bound  to  be  a 
fatalistic  and  brutalizing  tendency.  Re- 
ligion that  does  not  enter  intimately  into 
everyday  life  and  enrich  the  baffling  expe- 
riences of  daily  labor  with  great  spiritual 
interpretations,  gives  little  of  value  to 
country  people.  The  rural  home  awakens 
to  its  opportunities  only  when  it  is  in- 
vigorated by  vital  spiritual  inspiration. 
A  materialistic  philosophy  of  life  will  eat 
the  heart  out  of  the  country  and  leave 
it  in  despair.  Country  people  seldom  have 
wide  choice;  they  must  either  penetrate 
common  experience  with  the  eye  of  con- 
fident idealism,  or  they  must  dig  the  earth, 
bent  down  with  the  oppressing  burden  of 
dissatisfied  toil.  Whatever  the  philosophy 
of  life,  it  will  command  the  spirit  of  the 
home. 

Parents  also  need  training  if  they  are 


34    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

to  make  successful  use  of  the  opportu- 
nities placed  in  their  hands.  This  training 
needs  especially  to  give  the  parents  a 
right  point  of  view  respecting  sex  and 
sex-instruction.  At  present  there  is  a 
powerful  taboo  in  most  country  places 
regarding  any  constructive  attempt  to 
give  helpful  sex  information,  although,  as 
a  matter  of  practice,  conversation  often 
gravitates  toward  sex  in  a  most  unwhole- 
some fashion.  The  taboo  is  fixed  for  the 
most  part  upon  any  public  recognition 
of  sex,  while  privately,  interest  in  matters 
of  sex  is  taken  for  granted.  We  have 
gossip  and  scandal,  but  little  right-minded 
attention  to  sexual  knowledge.  This  con- 
dition must  change  before  many  families 
will  be  fit  to  win  the  full  confidence  of 
the  children  and  to  influence  them  toward 
a  high-minded  outlook  upon  life. 

We  must  appreciate  the  very  valuable 
efforts  that  are  already  being  put  forth  to 
make  the  rural  homes  more  efficient  with 
reference  to  sanitation,  hygiene,  and  proper 
food.  This  instruction  promises  to  de- 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  35 

crease  much  human  suffering,  discontent, 
and  poverty.  In  some  respects  such 
constructive  service  is  more  needed  in  the 
country  than  in  the  city.  Certainly,  good 
results  are  already  appearing  as  a  result 
of  the  efforts  that  institutions  and  peo- 
ple interested  in  the  country  have  put 
forth. 

The  rural  family  must  be  made  to 
realize  the  consequential  character  of 
childhood  experience.  The  alienist  espe- 
cially has  demonstrated  the  significant 
influence  of  childhood  upon  adult  motives 
and  conduct.  Recent  studies  of  human 
conduct  have  greatly  magnified  the  im- 
portance of  early  experience  and  have 
disclosed  how  often  it  is  the  first  cause 
of  morbid  thinking  and  anti-social  actions. 
The  conclusion  is  not  to  be  doubted — 
a  still  greater  effort  must  be  made  to 
conserve  human  character  by  a  wiser 
control  of  the  influences  of  childhood. 
One  may  discover  for  himself  how  in- 
terested conscientious  parents  are  in  de- 
tailed illustrations  of  childhood  influence 


36         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

upon  adult  life  and  how  impressed  they 
are  with  the  seriousness  of  such  facts. 
Rural  families  must  be  taught  more 
generally  this  impressive  contribution  of 
modern  science. 

A  much  greater  effort  must  be  made 
in  many  localities  to  lift  from  the  rural 
family  the  burden  of  the  feeble-minded. 
The  possible  harm  that  may  be  caused 
by  a  high-grade  feeble-minded  boy  or  girl 
in  the  country  can  be  appreciated  only 
by  one  who  has  come  in  contact  with 
such  a  problem.  The  close  contact,  free 
association,  and  common  interests  of  rural 
folk,  with  the  added  difficulty  of  segre- 
gating one's  child,  even  when  the  menace 
of  a  feeble-minded  associate  is  fully  recog- 
nized, make  the  presence  of  feeble-minded 
boys  and  girls  in  the  country  a  more 
difficult  and  more  serious  matter  than  is 
the  case  at  present  in  the  city.  The 
school  and  the  state,  that  is,  the  state  by 
means  of  the  opportunity  provided  by 
the  schools,  must  take  more  effective 
measures  to  handle  this  problem.  Until 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE  37 

this  has  been  brought  about  by  public 
education  and  agitation,  many  rural  fam- 
ilies will  be  required  to  encounter  serious 
moral  dangers  and  problems  for  which 
society  is  itself  responsible. 

The  rural  family  needs  to  be  taught 
to  be  more  just  and  more  generous  in 
regard  to  other  famih'es.  The  clannish 
spirit  ought  to  pass,  for  it  is  without 
excuse  in  these  days.  The  family  in- 
terests a  generation  ago  were  altogether 
too  narrowly  conceived  to  make  a  whole- 
some social  life  possible.  Greater  co- 
operation is  necessary  if  rural  people  are 
to  make  progress,  and  this  cooperation 
is  impossible  when  families  are  jealous 
and  suspicious.  This  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  wholesome  rural  culture,  made  by 
selfish  and  petty  family  motives,  it  is 
useless  to  ignore.  Unless  the  obstacle 
can  be  pushed  aside,  other  efforts  to 
inspire  country  people  to  a  realization  of 
their  social  opportunities  must  surely  fail. 
Family  life  in  the  country  can  be  saved 
from  its  besetting  sin  when  rural  leader- 


38        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

ship  undertakes  this  task  with  the  serious- 
ness its  importance  justifies. 

The  rural  family  must  be  led  to  adopt 
a  positive  morality.  This  is  imperative. 
The  age  of  prohibition  as  an  expression  of 
ideals  has  passed.  Emphasis  must  be 
placed  upon  what  we  should  do,  and 
must  be  removed  from  a  trivial  and 
legalized  code  of  "Don'ts."  Here  and 
there  in  the  country  we  find  a  firmly  en- 
trenched negative  interpretation  of  moral 
obligation.  Nothing  is  so  dangerous  mor- 
ally as  this.  Nothing  can  so  certainly 
drive  out  of  the  community  the  broad- 
minded,  fine-spirited  youth.  The  family 
must  interpret  morality  with  good  sense 
and  with  a  full  regard  for  the  proportions 
of  things.  The  parents  must  teach  a 
better  moral  standard  than  they  them- 
selves were  taught.  The  home  morality 
must  have  the  flavor  of  kindliness  and 
sweet  reasonableness.  Morality,  to  be 
true  to  its  essence,  does  not  require  that 
it  be  made  disagreeable.  Goodness  is 
beauty  expressed  in  human  conduct  and, 


FAMILY  IN  COUNTRY  LIFE          39 

therefore,  deserves  freedom  to  disclose  its 
winsome  charm  as  well  as  its  stern  pre- 
eminence. 

This  program  for  constructive  social 
service  in  the  country  is  largely  based 
upon  the  conservation  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  resources  of  the  country.  The 
deepest  need  of  the  country  can  be  satis- 
fied by  no  smaller  propaganda.  The 
instruments  for  such  service  we  already 
have.  The  country  school,  the  country 
church,  neighborhood  fellowship,  and  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  pro- 
vide the  means  for  a  moral  and  spiritual 
renaissance  in  the  country.  There  is  no 
easier  way  to  obtain  a  healthy  rural 
family  life  than  by  a  skilful,  serious,  and 
large-hearted  use  of  our  moral  institu- 
tions in  concrete,  courageous,  and  modern 
instruction,  and  in  persuasive  inspiration. 


THE  RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE 
COUNTRY  SCHOOLS 


Ill 

THE  RURAL  WORKER  AND  THE 
COUNTRY  SCHOOLS 

Of  late  the  rural  schools  have  been 
receiving  much  attention.  Educators  and 
others  interested  in  rural  welfare  have 
seriously  studied  the  needs  and  oppor- 
tunities of  our  country  schools  and  the 
good  results  of  this  interest  are  already 
revealing  themselves.  It  is  true,  of  course, 
that  much  of  this  contribution  to  the 
rapidly  increasing  literature  devoted  to 
rural  educational. problems  has  come  from 
men  who  live  in  urban  communities  and 
who  for  the  most  part  have  expert  knowl- 
edge concerning  the  administration  of 
urban  schools. 

It  is  easy,  without  doubt,  to  give  too 
much  emphasis  to  the  peculiar  needs  of 
the  rural  schools  and  to  forget  that  urban 
and  rural  schools  have  much  in  common. 
Without  forgetting  that  many  of  our 
43 


44    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

school  problems  are  fundamental  and  pre- 
sent in  all  schools  regardless  of  the  en- 
vironment in  which  they  attempt  to 
function,  it  is  reasonable  to  regret  that  a 
larger  part  in  the  discussions  relating  to 
rural  education  has  not  been  taken  by 
people  living  in  the  country  and  familiar 
with  the  rural  life  of  the  present  time. 
It  is  only  just  to  add,  however,  that  both 
urban  and  rural  education  suffer  because 
so  little  influence  comes  into  school  theory 
and  practice  from  those  who  stand  out- 
side the  profession  of  teaching.  The 
teacher  is  not  likely  to  know  life  so  widely 
or  so  accurately  as  do  those  men  and 
women  who  have  won  success  by  meeting 
actual  situations  that  test  practical  judg- 
ment and  sound  self-control.  Every  one 
subscribes  to  the  statement  that  the 
business  of  education  is  the  preparation 
of  pupils  for  life,  every  one  knows  that 
the  value  of  such  a  preparation  can  be 
made  certain  only  by  being  brought  under 
the  acid  test  of  the  actual  conditions  of 
social  life,  but  few  there  are  that  realize 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  SCHOOLS      45 

that  one  of  the  ever-present  problems  of 
educational  efficiency  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  thinking  that  influences  the  pur- 
poses and  methods  of  teachers  mostly 
originates  within  the  profession  itself. 
The  significance  of  this  would  be  apparent 
were  it  true  that  all  of  one's  education 
for  life  comes  from  the  schools;  happily, 
this  is  not  true,  and  most  pupils  obtain 
valuable  experiences  from  actual  contact 
with  problems  of  life  that  impress  them 
more  deeply  than  the  preparation  which 
at  the  same  time  the  school  is  trying  to 
give. 

The  rural  worker  needs  to  feel  a  re- 
sponsibility for  the  making  of  some  con- 
tribution to  the  rural  school's  social 
program.  He  cannot  help  having  some 
advantages,  in  judging  the  results  of 
school  training,  over  the  teacher  who  is 
busy  with  the  process  of  instruction  itself. 
Without  doubt  the  rural  worker  has  felt 
incompetent  to  enter  much  into  educa- 
tional discussion,  thinking  that  such  mat- 
ters are  sacred  to  those  who  have  ped- 


46    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

agogic  training,  but  a  moment's  thought 
convinces  one  that,  since  the  teacher  has 
more  to  do  with  the  preparation  for  life 
than  the  living  of  life,  it  is  socially  unsafe 
for  the  teacher  to  have  a  complete  mo- 
nopoly of  educational  discussion  and  to 
obtain  no  help  from  those  who  test  the 
product  of  his  schools. 

The  rural  school  has  at  present  needs 
that  stand  out.  First,  it  needs  to  be  so- 
cialized. This  is  true  also  of  the  urban 
school,  but  it  is  not  equally  true.  Urban 
schools  have  to  some  degree  responded 
to  the  pressure  of  modern  life  and  have 
assumed  in  increasing  measure  a  social 
function.  There  has  been  no  such  pressure 
from  rural  communities.  Often  the  edu- 
cational ideals  for  which  country  people 
have  enthusiasm  are  composed  of  expe- 
riences in  a  school-spirit  less  social  than 
that  usually  found  in  the  rural  school  of 
the  present  time.  This  means  that  the 
pressure  of  public  opinion  often  pushes 
backward,  while  the  urban  school  is  being 
forced  forward. 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  SCHOOLS       47 

Neither  country  school  nor  city  school 
can  obtain  much  success  in  its  socializing 
program  until  it  really  ministers  to  the 
physical  needs  of  its  pupils.  Theory  to 
the  contrary,  the  school  system  still  for- 
gets that  the  chief  business  of  the  child 
is  the  making  of  a  body,  and  that  for  the 
sake  of  future  personal  and  social  welfare 
the  needs  of  the  body  must  have  right 
of  way.  Until  this  fact  of  nature  is 
given  its  full  worth  and  the  mental  side 
of  the  school  work  is  subordinated,  public 
education  can  never  be  a  complete  success. 
So  long  as  the  body  needs  of  the  growing 
child  are  exploited  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  mental  results  that  appear  to 
the  adult  outside  of  the  teaching  pro- 
fession both  trivial  and  premature,  there 
can  be  no  hope  that  the  school  will  main- 
tain a  perfectly  wholesome  social  program. 
This  problem  is  certainly  as  serious  in 
the  country  school  as  in  the  city  school. 
This  matter  is  no  by-product.  When  the 
schools  fail  to  conserve  human  possi- 
bilities by  ignoring  the  regulations  im- 


48    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

posed  by  natural  law  upon  the  operation 
of  their  educational  processes,  the  schools 
are  socially  negligent.  They  are  faulty 
in  the  purpose  for  which  they  have  been 
created. 

The  second  difficulty  comes  from  the 
first.  The  rural  school  still  needs  a  larger 
program.  When  it  seriously  undertakes 
to  assume  its  function  as  the  most  effective 
of  our  social  institutions,  it  will  make 
radical  changes  in  its  program.  To  affirm 
this  one  need  not  forget  or  undervalue 
the  changes  already  made.  Additions  have 
been  made  to  the  program.  The  spirit 
of  the  program  has  not  been  radically 
changed.  We  still  provide  an  individual- 
istic preparation — hopelessly  inadequate 
though  it  is — rather  than  the  social  train- 
ing which  can  be  the  only  safe  foundation 
for  social  progress.  We  still  overvalue 
ancient  knowledge  and  former  educational 
values.  We  still  refuse  to  admit  into 
our  schools  occupations  and  interests  that 
belong  there  because  they  are  consistent 
with  the  instincts  of  the  child.  The 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  SCHOOLS       49 

country  school  has  been  stupidly  indif- 
ferent to  the  wealth  of  its  resources  and 
has  forced  upon  its  pupils  a  meager  and 
lifeless  program.  When  a  country  high 
school,  for  example,  attempts  to  minister 
to  the  needs  of  its  students  with  a  pro- 
gram of  study  that  includes  no  science 
of  any  kind,  the  people  of  that  com- 
munity ought  to  be  told,  as  recently  in 
one  case  they  were,  that  they  are  enforcing 
an  educational  policy  that  prophesies 
community  suicide. 

The  third  difficulty  of  the  rural  school 
system  is  its  institutionalism.  No  effective 
organization  can  be  developed  without 
creating  in  it  the  danger  of  too  great 
institutional  concern.  Those  who  are  con- 
nected with  the  schools  very  easily  come 
to  regard  its  problems  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  welfare  of  the  organization 
rather  than  that  of  the  best  interests 
of  the  children.  Of  course  this  mistake 
is  nearly  always  unconscious  and  those 
who  are  really  influenced  by  the  pro- 
fessional instinct  to  protect  the  immediate 


50    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

interests  of  the  school  as  an  institution 
come  to  believe  that  they  are  also  doing 
the  best  that  can  be  done  for  the  people. 
It  is,  however,  the  clear  teaching  of 
human  history  that  effort  to  maintain 
the  welfare  of  any  social  organization  is 
likely  to  decrease  the  attention  given  to 
its  efficiency.  The  attitude  of  institu- 
tional self-protection  leads  to  uncritical 
methods,  easy-going  content,  and  rigid, 
unprogressive  habits  of  thought.  In  our 
public  school  system  the  vital  influences 
are  always  in  conflict  with  the  constructive 
endeavor  of  those  who,  because  of  their 
desire  for  professional  repose,  insist  that 
the  institution  keep  its  attention  upon 
itself  and  continue  as  it  happens  to  be. 
In  the  country  this  attitude  is  likely  to 
receive  less  criticism  than  in  the  city  and 
for  that  reason  those  who  wish  progress 
in  the  country  must  assume  an  unending 
struggle  against  it. 

Whatever  its  faults,  the  rural  school  in 
its  influence  upon  country  youth  has  only 
one  possible  rival — the  home.  At  present 


RURAL  WORKER  AND  SCHOOLS       51 

the  school  is  obtaining  more  and  more 
opportunity  to  influence  young  life;  the 
home~  is  losing  more  and  more  of  the 
opportunities  it  once  had.  It  behooves, 
therefore,  any  one  who  serves  young  life 
in  the  country,  to  appreciate  what  a 
power  for  good  or  for  evil,  for  progress 
or  for  regression,  the  schools  are.  Every 
effort  should  be  made  to  understand  the 
schools.  With  the  teachers  sympathetic 
relationships  should  be  maintained,  but 
without  even  a  tinge  of  subserviency. 
An  unbiased  judgment  of  the  social  value 
of  the  schools,  known  only  to  himself, 
should  be  constructed  by  the  rural  worker 
and  then  every  effort  should  be  made 
to  cooperate  with  the  striving  of  the 
school  for  better  results  and  to  supple- 
ment with  generous  spirit  the  necessary 
limitations  of  public  school  service.  In- 
directly and  quietly  the  rural  worker  may 
wisely  try  to  invest  as  much  as  possible 
of  himself  in  the  school's  social  service 
by  working  through  those  who  control 
the  public  education  of  the  community. 


52        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

No  rural  worker  can  expect  a  greater 
ally  than  an  efficient,  socially-minded 
country  school. 


IV 

THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE 
RURAL  WORKER 

The  difference  between  the  urban  and 
the  rural  church  may  easily  be  exag- 
gerated. There  are  differences,  of  course, 
and  it  is  natural  that  the  rural  worker 
and  the  student  of  country  life  should 
make  too  much  of  what  is  characteristic 
of  the  church  ministering  to  country 
people.  At  bottom,  however,  the  two 
types  of  churches  share  the  same  expe- 
riences. Therefore,  what  may  be  said 
in  regard  to  one  will  prove  also  to  be 
largely  true  of  the  other.  For  the  purpose 
of  giving  emphasis  to  the  work  of  the 
rural  church,  nevertheless,  we  are  justified 
in  forgetting  for  the  moment  how  common 
to  both  forms  of  church  life  are  the 
fundamental  needs,  resources,  and  possi- 
bilities. 

Those  who  carry  the  burdens  of  church 
55 


56         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

administration  are  generous  in  listening  as 
they  do  to  the  criticism  and  counsels  of 
those  who  stand  outside.  Indeed,  so 
much  has  been  said  and  is  still  being 
said  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  country 
church,  especially  by  those  who  are  not 
clergymen  and  not  responsible  for  the 
directing  of  church  activity,  that  one  may 
well  hesitate  to  express  another  opinion. 
And  yet  the  tolerance  of  those  who  have 
in  charge  the  policy  of  the  country  church 
is  in  itself  significant  and  invites  addi- 
tional suggestions  regarding  the  function 
of  the  Christian  Church  in  country  places. 
It  is  significant  because  it  discloses  that 
the  church  leaders  know  that  the  rural 
churches  have  serious  problems.  It  invites 
suggestions  because  it  reveals  that  the 
leaders  are  in  some  measure  perplexed  as 
to  what  is  required  in  our  day  of  the 
country  church,  and  are  therefore  not 
hostile  to  any  contribution  that  has  a 
constructive  purpose. 

Institutions  tend  to  be  self-satisfied  and 
self-protecting.      A    religious    institution 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER   57 

especially  is  in  danger  of  becoming  con- 
tent and  resentful  of  criticism  because,  by 
its  nature,  it  deals  with  matters  that  seem 
beyond  the  investigation  that  man  pre- 
scribes for  ordinary  things,  and  therefore 
secure  from  the  scrutiny  and  criticism 
given  to  common,  everyday  interests.  Of 
course  the  Church  has  no  right  to  pro- 
tect itself  from  criticism  with  respect  to 
its  efficiency  of  service  by  asking  that  it 
be  treated  as  if  it  were  itself  religion. 

The  fact  that  the  leaders  of  the  rural 
church  are  not  taking  this  attitude  is  of 
all  things  most  helpful.  It  proves  that 
their  eyes  are  directed  outward  toward 
their  responsibilities  and  that  the  rural 
churches  are  not  in  danger  of  the  greatest 
evil  that  ever  befalls  a  religious  institu- 
tion— a  blind  leadership  which  cannot 
distinguish  between  success  and  failure 
and  is  therefore  well  content  when  it 
ought  to  be  most  dissatisfied. 

Whether  rural  church  leadership  is  will- 
ing to  consider  radical  changes  in  methods 
of  social  and  moral  service  is  a  question 


58    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

time  alone  can  answer.  The  test  has  not 
yet  been  made;  whether  serious  changes 
should  be  considered  can  at  present  be 
only  a  matter  of  opinion.  At  present  the 
usual  attitude  seems  to  be  that  the  rural 
church  needs  more  skill — new  methods — 
in  the  doing  of  what  it  has  always  been 
doing.  There  appears  as  yet  to  be  little 
disposition  to  ask  whether  modern  life 
requires  of  the  rural  church  that  it  change 
in  large  measure  its  form  of  service. 

With  its  history  of  past  success  by  the 
use  of  present  methods  deep  in  its  con- 
sciousness, it  is  certainly  difficult  for  the 
rural  church  to  consider  without  prejudice 
the  possibility  of  its  needing  to  change 
its  manner  of  functioning.  It  is,  how- 
ever, possible  that  life  has  been  so  changed, 
so  fundamentally  changed,  that  the  Church 
to  meet  its  present  duties  and  to  use  its 
present  resources  must  make  profound 
changes  in  its  method  of  service.  When 
the  situation  advances  to  the  point  where 
such  changes  receive  serious  consideration, 
some  of  us  believe  that  the  following 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER       59 

questions  will  be  asked  and  finally  an- 
swered on  the  basis  of  experiment  and 
experience: 

1.  Must  not  the  rural  church  give  less 
attention  to  preaching?  The  theological 
student  is  still  taught  by  many  of  our 
Protestant  seminaries,  just  as  he  was  a 
decade  ago,  that  the  minister's  chief 
function  is  preaching.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  concerning  the  supreme  importance 
of  preaching  in  the  past.  Is  not,  however, 
its  effectiveness  decreasing?  If  the  Church 
were  starting  its  work  at  the  present  time, 
in  the  light  of  the  methods  of  other  organ- 
izations, would  we  expect  it  to  put  the 
stress  upon  preaching  that  it  does  at 
present?  There  are  two  reasons  why 
preaching  ought  not  to  have  the  emphasis 
it  has  had  in  the  past.  Much  of  its  former 
importance  was  due  to  influences  that  are 
now  exerted  by  the  newspaper,  the  mag- 
azine, the  library,  the  public  lecture,  and 
even  by  the  theater.  The  sermon  no 
longer  has  the  monopoly  it  once  had  in 
the  bringing  of  moral  truth  to  the  atten- 


60         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

tion  of  the  people.  Many  people  are 
more  deeply  impressed  by  the  methods  of 
presenting  truth  exercised  by  some  of  the 
Church's  rivals  for  popular  attention.  It 
is  also  true  that,  since  religion  has  tried 
to  function  more  in  social  life  and  the 
Church  has  not  so  much  tried  to  build 
up  an  experience  of  dogma  within  the 
life  of  the  individual,  the  sermon  has,  as 
a  means  of  public  influence,  suffered  some 
handicap.  It  is  largely  because  of  this 
that  the  Church  has  undertaken  so  much 
new  work  in  addition  to  the  preaching. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  limit  in  the  process 
of  taking  on  new  forms  of  service  and 
eliminating  nothing.  The  minister  is  hu- 
man and  he  simply  can  not  do  so  much 
as  is  asked  of  him.  Charles  M.  Sheldon, 
in  a  very  interesting  essay  in  regard  to 
the  work  of  the  minister,1  says  that  the 
man  does  not  live  who  can  produce  two 
good,  new  sermons  each  week.  In  the 
long  run  the  rural  church  must  decrease 

14'Man    or   Superman,"   Atlantic  Monthly,  January, 
1917. 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER   61 

the  emphasis  upon  preaching,  if  it  is 
successfully  to  carry  on  the  new  work 
that  from  time  to  time  it  is  adding.  And 
the  new  activities  come  with  all  the  mo- 
mentum that  belongs  to  service  that 
seems  to  fulfil  real  needs. 

When  the  Church  devotes  less  attention 
to  preaching,  it  will  certainly  give  more 
consideration  to  its  function  as  a  leader 
of  worship.  Protestantism  has  never  exag- 
gerated this  part  of  the  Church's  activity; 
it  usually  still  undervalues  the  importance 
of  the  esthetic  element  in  religion.  Wor- 
ship tends  to  emphasize  the  common 
elements;  preaching  necessarily  brings  out 
the  differences  between  religious  people. 
When  there  is  less  importance  given  to 
preaching  and  more  to  worship,  there  will 
be  a  decrease  in  sectarianism. 

Of  course  there  are  orators  who  preach 
and  who  enjoy  the  influence  and  popu- 
larity that  oratory  always  will  have. 
These  men,  however,  are  outstanding  and 
their  success  illustrates  the  continuing 
power  of  oratory,  but  it  gives  no  argu- 


62         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

ment  for  the  effectiveness  of  preaching  in 
general.  As  a  person  having  an  instinctive 
bias  for  the  spoken  word,  I  have  slowly 
been  driven  to  the  opinion  that  a  great 
multitude  of  people  feel  differently  and 
are  more  sincerely  and  more  easily  influ- 
enced by  other  means  of  bringing  truth 
home  to  the  hearts  of  men  and  women. 

Less  attention  to  preaching  will  permit 
the  rural  minister  to  undertake  the  other 
work  given  in  the  following  parts  of  the 
program  here  presented. 

2.  There  is  a  second  question  that  we 
may  expect  the  rural  church  some  time  to 
consider — must  not  the  Church  make  more 
of  modern  science  as  a  means  of  develop- 
ing social  and  individual  character?  This 
question  is  likely  to  reveal  different  ideas 
as  to  what  religion  is.  One  who  thinks 
of  the  spiritual  as  the  flower  of  complete 
living,  who  wishes  every  possible  whole- 
some condition  provided  for  character- 
formation,  will  naturally  regard  science  as 
the  friend  of  religion  and  the  basis  for 
moral  progress.  There  is  no  one  who 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER   63 

does  not  wish  the  Church  in  some  degree 
to  take  advantage  of  the  means  for  its 
wider  service  provided  by  discovery  and 
invention.  Must  not  the  rural  church 
undertake  to  distribute  to  the  community 
life  the  helpful  information  science  has, 
unless  it  is  willing  to  give  to  some  other 
institution  a  great  moral  service  that  at 
present  it  can  best  perform?  Until  it 
assumes  in  a  greater  degree  and  in  a 
more  conscious  manner  the  distribution 
of  science  in  the  small  community  life, 
can  we  expect  any  amount  of  exhortation 
to  make  the  community  life  what  it 
should  be?  The  people  need,  to  meet 
their  problems,  concrete  information  that 
furnishes  specific  answers  to  their  diffi- 
culties. 

At  present  the  average  minister  realizes 
that  his  training  has  been  philosophic 
rather  than  scientific.  His  outlook  upon 
life  is  from  a  different  viewpoint  than 
that  from  which  most  men  face  experience. 
He  often  builds  his  service  for  men  upon 
a  basis  which  no  other  professional  man 


64    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

except  the  lawyer — and  he  in  a  smaller 
and  decreasing  degree — is  attempting  to 
use  in  practical  effort.  If  the  minister 
had  been  given  more  science  in  his  prep- 
aration for  life,  there  is  little  doubt  that 
the  Church  would  have  accepted,  espe- 
cially in  small  towns  and  villages,  its 
opportunity  to  popularize  science  by  bring- 
ing men  and  women  skilful  in  presenting 
useful  information  into  the  community 
and  by  this  time  would  have  been  regarded 
as  socially  the  most  valuable  instrument 
for  the  distribution  of  science. 

3.  Another  question  the  rural  church 
must  soon  face.  Must  there  not  be  less 
emphasis  given  to  individualism  and  more 
to  social  control?  This  is  a  question  the 
schools  are  already  facing.  A  philosophic 
outlook  naturally  tends  toward  an  em- 
phasis upon  individual  responsibility  in  a 
way  science  does  not  justify.  Science 
(medicine,  abnormal  psychology,  and  the 
social  sciences  especially)  is  showing  more 
and  more  why  men  act  as  they  do.  One's 
very  personality  is  social  in  origin.  The 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER   65 

pressure  of  early  influences  and  of  later 
public  opinion  is  very  great.  Moral  re- 
sults follow  influences  that  belong  to 
diseases,  abnormal  experiences,  unfortu- 
nate suggestions,  defective  inheritance, 
and  a  multitude  of  causes  understood  by 
science.  If  religion  is  the  supreme  expe- 
rience of  a  wholesome,  normal  individual, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  increasingly 
we  must  regard  our  moral  problems  as 
social  more  deeply  than  individual.  This 
will  force  the  rural  church  to  give  up  its 
present  unreasonable  emphasis  upon  indi- 
vidual conduct  and  lead  it  to  assume  a 
much  larger  social  responsibility. 

4.  Finally,  do  not  the  currents  of 
modern  thought  and  feeling  appear  to 
lead  to  a  greater  emphasis  upon  Chris- 
tianity as  a  service  rather  than  as  a 
system  of  thought?  Will  not  the  rural 
church  consider  whether  it  must  not  put 
more  emphasis  upon  itself  as  a  function 
and  less  upon  itself  as  an  interpreter 
of  doctrine?  This  is  the  big  question. 
At  present  the  Church  wishes  to  increase 


66    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

its  service,  but  it  has  only  slight  inclina- 
tion to  reduce  the  attention  it  gives 
to  doctrine.  The  essential  element  in 
Christianity,  service — largely  as  a  result 
of  the  work  of  the  churches — has  now 
widespread  acceptance,  but  many  are  not 
captivated  by  the  doctrinal  side  of  church 
activity.  Such  men  must  understand  the 
meaning  of  faith  to  Paul  by  the  meaning 
of  religion  to  Jesus.  They  respond  to  the 
appeal  of  service;  they  do  not  take  in- 
terest in  matters  of  doctrine.  To  such 
the  Church  is  a  function,  not  an  interpre- 
ter of  dogma.  What  represents  religious 
sanity  in  such  a  movement  it  is  for  time 
to  reveal,  but  the  current  now  flows 
toward-  service  and  away  from  a  system 
of  doctrine. 

Service  brings  religious  people  together; 
doctrine  separates  them.  It  is  therefore 
natural  that  with  the  present  tendency 
toward  making  religion  an  activity,  there 
should  go  a  profound  movement  toward 
religious  consolidation.  The  reaction  from 
narrower  and  narrower  division,  smaller 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER       67 

and  smaller  groups,  within  Protestantism 
is  very  determined.  What  a  blessing  this 
is  proving  for  the  rural  people!  The 
burden  of  sectarianism  is  hardest  for  them 
to  endure.  Someone  has  said  that  every 
argument  for  the  consolidated  school  is 
equally  strong  for  the  consolidated  church. 
If  activity  proves  a  working  basis  for  the 
fellowship  of  Christian  people,  we  may  in 
time  have  the  community  church  attempt- 
ing to  serve  all  the  people  in  every  possi- 
ble way,  and  in  association  with  other 
churches  assuming  the  same  function.  At 
present  this  appears  very  distant  and  we 
are  satisfied  when  we  find  churches  fed- 
erating, while  still  assuming  the  serious- 
ness of  doctrinal  differences. 

Our  entire  social  life  seems  in  a  state 
of  flux.  It  is  commonplace  thought  that 
changes  are  taking  place.  We  are  too 
closely  related  to  the  movement  to  know 
just  what  is  to  be  the  outcome.  A  more 
stable  condition  must  some  time  come.  It 
now  appears  that  rural  life  is  entering 
upon  the  period  of  flux  which  heretofore 


68    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

has  been  more  characteristic  of  the  cities. 
It  is  folly  to  suppose  that  church  life  will 
not  at  all  change  during  such  a  social 
experience  as  that  upon  which  we  have 
entered.  The  rural  worker  must  in  every 
way  possible  help  the  Church  in  the 
work  it  is  now  doing.  He  has  no  right, 
however,  to  be  content  with  merely  doing 
this.  He  also  should  seriously  think  over 
and  over  the  problems  of  possible  changes 
in  church  activity,  that  new  social  de- 
mands may  not  be  ignored.  Since  he 
knows  the  work  of  many  churches,  he  has 
a  basis  for  wide-minded  thought.  This 
will  prepare  him  to  serve  those  churches 
that  attempt  new  service.  In  other  words, 
the  best  type  of  rural  worker  will  not 
merely  assist  the  Church  that  now  is;  he 
will  also  have  sympathy  and  understand- 
ing for  the  Church  that  is  coming  to  be. 
This  second  task  is  more  difficult  than 
the  first.  It  will  require  critical  thought, 
vision,  patience,  courage,  and  good  judg- 
ment. 

Perhaps   a   sufficient   criticism   of   this 


CHURCH  AND  RURAL  WORKER   69 

program  is  contained  in  the  question, 
"Why  doesn't  the  author  try  to  put  his 
program  in  practice?"  The  force  of  this 
challenge  has  been  felt,  even  by  one  who 
is  imbedded  in  a  different  occupation  and 
who  has  peculiar  obligations  that  would 
seem  to  forbid  entering  a  new  field  of 
service.  This  much  is  certain,  were  I  a 
minister  in  any  degree  successful,  I  would 
be  unlikely  to  feel  the  need  of  any  radical 
change  in  the  program  of  the  rural  church; 
were  I  a  failure,  I  would  have  no  courage 
to  suggest  the  change.  As  an  outsider  I 
have  come  to  think  that  some  change  of 
program  is  sure  to  come,  but  not  quickly. 
Meanwhile  it  is  wisdom  for  us  all  to 
remember  that  the  mission  of  the  Church 
is  a  larger  matter  than  its  methods. 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  IN  RURAL 
DISTRICTS 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  IN  RURAL 
DISTRICTS 

Nervous  diseases,  insanity,  and  feeble- 
mindedness are  a  grievous  burden  for 
modern  society.  Every  form  of  social  ill 
roots  itself  in  these  mind  disorders.  Since 
this  great  burden  seems  to  be  increasing 
as  a  result  of  the  conditions  of  present- 
day  living,  it  is  not  strange  that  those 
most  familiar  with  the  situation  are 
seriously  alarmed.  This  concern  is  ex- 
pressing itself  in  movements  that  attempt 
to  educate  the  public  to  the  need  of  con- 
serving the  mind  in  every  possible  way. 
Interest  is  being  aroused  in  mental  hygiene 
and  this  fact  promises  great  social  relief. 
It  is  indeed  fortunate  that  philanthropic 
effort  has  thus  become  welded  with  science 
and  is  eager  to  get  at  one  of  the  most 
serious  sources  of  poverty,  alcoholism, 
prostitution,  crime,  and  physical  suffering. 
73 


74    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

The  student  of  any  of  these  great  social 
problems  knows  that  the  roots  of  the 
.  difficulty  usually  run  down  into  human 
weaknesses  such  as  the  mental  hygiene 
movement  is  attempting  to  correct  and 
prevent. 

The  mental  hygiene  propaganda  has 
been  up  to  the  present  time  largely  con- 
fined to  the  urban  centers,  but  it  is  very 
important  that  our  rural  districts  receive 
the  benefits  that  come  from  attention  to 
the  problems  of  mental  health.  Not  that 
rural  people  have  greater  need  of  mental 
hygiene  than  have  those  who  live  in  the 
cities.  Many  alienists,  on  the  contrary, 
believe  the  city  more  in  need  of  mind- 
conserving  activities,  and,  although  there 
is  no  satisfactory  basis  for  comparison,  it 
would  seem  as  a  result  of  the  data  gathered 
by  the  last  census1  that  their  conclusion 
is  reasonable  in  light  of  the  evidence  we 
have  at  present  regarding  conditions  in 
this  country.  The  country  needs  em- 

'"Insane   and  Feebleminded  in  Institutions,"   Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  1914,  pp.  50  and  54. 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  75 

v.  phasis  because  it  can  be  more  easily 
neglected  than  the  city. 

People  in   the  country   are  less  likely 

v  to  realize  the  needs  of  mental  hygiene. 
As  a  rule,  rural  conditions  that  should 
challenge  the  attention  of  the  leaders  of 
the  communities  are  not  spectacular  and 
appear  in  isolation.  In  urban  life,  on 
the  other  hand,  thoughtful  social  workers 
are  bound  to  see  many  individual  cases 
that  belong  to  the  defective  group  as  a 
mass,  and  thereby  to  realize  the  serious- 
ness of  the  problem.  If  the  rural  leaders 
could  put  together  the  cases  of  social 
maladjustment  present  in  many  different 
communities,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
great  need  of  mental  hygiene  in  the  coun- 
try would  be  easily  recognized. 

It  is  also  true  that  mental  hygiene 
propaganda  is  somewhat  more  difficult  in 
the  country,  partly  because  of  the  temper 
of  mind  of  rural  leadership  and  partly 
because  of  the  lack  of  jme_ans__  Jor  the 
reaching  ofj>opular^,tteniion.  People  are 
not  likely  to  be  spontaneously  interested 


76         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

in  the  mental  hygiene  movement.  They 
require  the  instruction  and  inspiration 
that  come  through  the  personality  of  the 
alienist.  Fortunately  our  daily  and  weekly 
papers  realize  the  seriousness  of  the  mental 
hygiene  propaganda  and  they  circulate 
both  in  the  country  and  in  the  city.  This 
fact  is  making  many  of  the  leading  people 
in  the  country  nearly  as  familiar  with 
the  problem  of  mental  hygiene  as  are 
city  leaders. 

Even  though  we  know  less  than  we 
should  like  concerning  the  amount  and 
the  significance  of  mental  deficiency  in 
the  country,  we  already  have  information 
that  reveals  the  need  of  mental  hygiene 
effort  among  rural  folk.  The  report  of 
the  New  Hampshire  Children's  Commis- 
sion made  in  1915  contains  a  significant 
conclusion  in  regard  to  the  feeble-minded- 
ness  in  the  rural  section  of  that  state. 
"One  of  the  most  significant  studies  that 
can  be  made  in  the  survey  of  these  coun- 
ties is  the  geographic  distribution  of  the 
feeble-minded  and  the  proportion  of  the 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  77 

entire  state  population  that  falls  within 
this  defective  class  Since  there  has  been 
a  report  from  every  town  in  the  state, 
either  by  questionnaire  or  personal  canvass, 
this  proportion  may  be  considered  fairly 
correct,  even  though  many  cases  have  not 
been  reported.  One  of  the  most  significant 
revelations  of  this  table  is  the  range 
of  feeble-mindedness  gradually  ascending 
from  the  smallest  percentage,  in  the  most 
populous  county  of  the  state,  to  the 
largest  percentages,  in  the  two  most  re- 
mote and  thinly  populated  counties.  It 
speaks  volumes  for  the  need  of  improv- 
ing rural  conditions,  of  bringing  the  people 
in  the  remote  farm  and  hill  districts  into 
closer  touch  with  the  currents  of  healthy, 
active  life  in  the  great  centers.  It  shows 
that  a  campaign  should  begin  at  once — 
this  very  month — for  the  improvement  of 
rural  living  conditions,  and  especially  for 
the  improvement  of  the  rural  schools, 
so  that  the  children  now  growing  up  may 
receive  the  education  that  is  their  birth- 
right." We  also  have  two  recent  govern- 


78         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

ment  reports  that  disclose  the  need  of 
mental  hygiene  among  rural  people.2 

The  first  report,  based  upon  a  survey 
made  in  Newcastle  County,  Delaware,  con- 
tains among  the  conclusions  these  that 
are  of  special  interest  to  the  student  of 
rural  life: 

"Five-tenths  of  1  per  cent  of  3,793 
rural  school  children  examined  in  New 
Castle  County  are  definitely  feeble-minded 
and  in  need  of  institutional  treatment. 

An  additional  1.3  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  were  so  retarded  mentally  as  to 
be  considered  probable  mental  defectives 
and  in  need  of  institutional  care. 

A  number  of  mentally  defective  chil- 
dren were  encountered  who  exhibited  symp- 
toms similar  to  those  which  are  observed 
in  the  adult  insane. 

It  is  believed,  as  a  result  of  this  survey, 


2" Mental  Status  of  Rural  School  Children,"  by 
E.  H.  Mullan,  Public  Health  Reports,  Nov.  17,  1916, 
and  "The  Mental  Status  of  Rural  School  Children  of 
Porter  County,  Indiana,"  by  T.  Clark  and  W.  L.  Tread- 
way,  Public  Health  Bulletin  No.  77. 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  79 

that  epilepsy  is  a  more  prevalent  disease 
than  it  has  heretofore  been  thought  to  be." 

The  other  report  gives  the  following 
information: 

"Of  the  1,087  girls  and  1,098  boys  ex- 
amined in  the  rural  schools,  93  of  the 
former  and  100  of  the  latter  were  below 
the  average  mentally,  or  8.7  per  cent  of 
the  whole  number. 

Of  the  total  school  population,  0.9  per 
cent  were  mental  defectives. 

The  undue  number  of  one-room  rural 
schools  in  the  county  which  were  of  faulty 
construction,  with  poor  equipment,  and 
with  imperfect  teaching  facilities,  were 
largely  responsible  for  the  retardation 
found  in  the  county. 

The  average  loss  of  grade  by  193  chil- 
dren, as  recorded  by  teachers,  was  1.28 
years  for  girls  and  1.5  years  for  boys,  a 
total  of  269  school  years. 

No  special  classes  for  the  instruction 
of  retarded  children  were  found  in  any 
•  of  the  rural  schools  of  the  county. 

In   addition   to   the  214   children   who 


80    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

were  retarded  and  exceptionally  retarded, 
three  epileptics  and  two  constitutionally 
inferior  children  were  found  among  the 
school  children  of  the  county." 

These  interesting  investigations  do  not, 
of  course,  disclose  the  full  amount  of 
mental  defectiveness  in  the  localities  stud- 
ied, because  they  are  based  on  a  survey 
of  the  children  at  school  and  because  they 
especially  take  up  the  matter  of  retarda- 
tion and  feeble-mindedness.  It  is  no 
uncommon  thing  in  the  small  rural 
community  to  find  the  more  troublesome 
feeble-minded  child  withdrawn  from  the 
school.  The  reports  suggest  that  a  wider 
investigation  would  increase  the  number  of 
defective  children,  for  the  method  chosen 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  discern  all 
the  seriously  neurotic  children.  The  in- 
formation gathered  indicates  that  epilepsy 
and  the  neurotic  predisposition  to  insanity 
need  to  be  investigated  as  well  as  amentia,3 
and  that  the  epileptics  and  neurotics,  even 

'Amentia  is  used  as  a  technical  term  for  feeble-mind- 
edness. 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  81 

among  rural  children,  are  more  numerous 
than  is  usually  supposed.  Of  course  an 
investigation  of  the  adults  would  still 
more  increase  the  amount  of  mental 
abnormality. 

The  sociologist  is  familiar  with  the 
social  menace  of  the  degenerate  family  in 
the  country.  Most  of  the  members  of 
the  families  thus  far  studied  have  lived 
in  the  country  or  small  village.  It  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  on  the  whole 
such  families  find  it  easier  to  survive  in 
the  country  than  in  the  city.  The  coun- 
try offers  occupation  for  the  high  grades 
during  the  busy  season  and  yet  does  not 
require  steady  employment  all  through 
the  year.  The  social  penalties  of  mental 
inferiority  are  not  likely  to  be  so  oppres- 
sive; certainly  there  is  much  less  danger 
of  coming  into  collision  with  the  law. 
Our  institutions  find  from  experience  that 
the  feeble-minded  take  kindly  to  rough, 
out-door  work  and  from  this  it  is  natural 
to  assume  that  a  large  number  of  the 
feeble-minded,  free  to  choose  their  environ- 


82    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

ment,  prefer  the  country  to  the  city. 
They  are  probably  more  often  handicapped 
by  the  competition  of  city  life  than  by 
the  conditions  of  life  in  the  rural  com- 
munity. 

It  is  probably  true  also  that  the  feeble- 
minded family  is  more  likely  to  renew 
its  vitality  by  the  mixing  in  of  new,  nor- 
mal blood  in  the  country  than  in  the 
city.  Illegitimacy  holds  in  the  problem 
of  rural  feeble-mindedness  the  same  posi- 
tion that  prostitution  occupies  in  urban 
amentia.  The  attractive  feeble-minded 
girl — and  of  course  many  of  these  girls 
are  physically  attractive  to  many  men — 
does  not  find  it  difficult  in  the  country 
to  have  sex  relations  with  mentally  normal 
men.  Indeed  it  is  often  not  realized  that 
the  girl  is  mentally  abnormal,  and  all  too 
frequently  we  have  a  marriage  in  the 
country  between  a  woman  of  unsound 
mind  and  a  man  who  is  mentally  sound. 
Illegitimacy  is,  however,  the  larger  prob- 
lem in  rural  amentia.  The  same  type  of 
girl  that  in  the  country  becomes  the 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  83 

mother  of  several  children,  often  by  dif- 
ferent men,  in  the  city,  unless  protected, 
enters  prostitution.  The  city  prostitute, 
because  of  the  sterilizing  effects  of  venereal 
diseases,  is  less  likely  to  become  the 
mother  of  children,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  she  scatters  about  syphilis,  which 
has  so  much  to  do  with  causing  mental 
abnormalities.  It  may  be  a  matter  of 
opinion  which  of  the  two  social  evils, 
illegitimacy  in  the  country  or  prostitution 
in  the  city,  has  the  larger  influence  upon 
the  spread  of  mental  abnormalities,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  rural 
difficulty  deserves  the  attention  of  all 
interested  in  mental  hygiene. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  rural  people  do 
not  realize  more  often  the  serious  meaning  'j 
of  feeble-mindedness.  The  close  contact 
between  neighbors  and  the  familiarity  of 
community  life  T:end  in  the  country  to 
develop  an  indifference  to  the  variations 
from  normal  standard  that  the  high-grade 
ament  expresses.  People,  as  a  rule,  take 
the  social  failures  of  the  feeble-minded  for 


84        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

granted  and  do  not  specially  regard  them 
as  evidences  of  mental  inferiority.  This 
condition  makes  the  limited  segregation 
possible  in  the  country  very  difficult  in- 
deed. The  thoughtful  parent  hardly  knows 
how  to  keep  his  child  from  associating 
with  the  deficient  child  of  his  neighbor 
when  they  live  near  together  and  attend 
the  same  school. 

At  school  also  the  feeble-minded  child 
is  likely  to  have  advantages  over  his  city 
brother,  which  keep  him  from  exhibiting 
to  the  full  his  inherent  mental  weakness. 
A  conversation  with  almost  any  rural 
teacher  will  impress  upon  one  the  fact 
that  the  teacher  is  loath  to  declare  feeble- 
minded a  child  whose  records  give  unmis- 
takable evidence  of  amentia  and  that  she 
generally  regards  the  child  as  merely  dull. 
Fortunately  this  is  likely  not  to  be  so 
true  in  the  future,  as  a  result  of  the  recent 
instruction  that  candidates  for  teaching 
are  now  receiving  in  our  normal  schools. 

There  is,  however,  the  greatest  need  of 
clinic  work  being  carried  on  in  our  rural 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  85 

schools.  The  problem  cannot  safely  be 
left  with  local  authority.  The  demand  is 
for  some  state-wide  method  of  mental 
examination  of  school  children.  This 
service,  which  in  most  states  could  be 
given  over  to  the  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  ought  to  be  given  wider  scope 
than  merely  the  mental  measurement  of 
school  children.  The  problem  requires  the 
service  of  the  alienist.  Only  by  this  more 
fundamental  treatment  of  the  problem 
can  we  expect  to  obtain  the  full  social 
relief  that  the  preventive  side  of  mental 
hygiene  promises.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  it  is  likely  that  the  problem  will 
be  considered  first  from  the  viewpoint 
of  retardation  in  our  rural  schools.  It 
will  be  unwise  to  force  the  mental  hygiene 
movement  into  our  rural  school  adminis- 
tration more  rapidly  than  the  need  of  it 
can  be  made  clear  to  our  rural  leadership. 
It  is  an  unhappy  fact  that  we  are  at 
present  doing  so  little.  The  state  cer- 
tainly must  try  in  some  way  to  provide, 
for  the  country  children  who  need  it,  the 


86    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

special  class  instruction  now  given  back- 
ward children  in  the  cities.  This  will 
give  relief  by  providing  a  basis  for  the 
separation  of  the  curable  and  the  incurable 
r  defective  children.  At  present  the  de- 
i  fective  child  who  requires  treatment  and 
improves  in  the  special  class  suffers  a 
great  handicap  by  being  in  the  country 
rather  than  in  the  city. 
'  Without  doubt  epilepsy  and  psycho- 
pathic cases,  as  well  as  feeble-mindedness, 
receive  relatively  less  attention  in  the 
country  than  in  the  city.  This  situation 
certainly  hinders  rural  progress  and  adds 
to  the  social  burdens  of  rural  communities. 
Any  one  familiar  with  the  life  of  a  typical 
rural  town  will  know  of  peculiarities  of 
conduct  and  strange  attitudes  of  non- 
social  persons  which  indicate  mental  un- 
soundness.  These  abnormalities  express 
themselves  in  various  forms  and  I  happen 
to  know  of  some  New  England  com- 
munities that  have  been  hopelessly  sep- 
arated into  two  hostile  parts  as  a  result 
of  the  influence  of  persons  whose  subse- 


MENTAL  HYGIENE  87 

quent  careers  have  proven  that  the  orig- 
inators of  the  difficulties  were  socially 
irresponsible.  One  such  case  was  a  church 
quarrel  that  finally  had  to  receive  a  state- 
wide recognition  because  of  the  serious 
situation  that  finally  resulted.  The  later 
suicide  of  the  individual  who  first  started 
the  dispute,  a  suicide  that  had  little  ob- 
jective explanation,  seems  to  have  demon- 
strated that  the  whole  difficulty  originated 
because  of  the  influence  of  a  psychopathic 
character.  In  this  case  had  the  community 
known  a  very  little  about  mental  aberra- 
tion the  history  of  the  difficulty  would 
have  been  very  different.  Even  as  it  was, 
a  very  few  of  the  more  thoughtful  people 
believed  the  man  insane. 

The  chief  reason,  however,  for  mental 
hygiene  propaganda  in  the  country  is  the 
influence  it  will  have  in  preventing  human 
suffering.  The  problem  of  mind  health 
is  a  humane  one  and  this  fact  removes 
the  distinction  between  rural  and  urban 
need.  Urban  fields  offer  more  induce- 
ments at  present  for  the  worker,  but  the 


88    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

rural  need  is  also  great.  The  rural  dis- 
tricts are  less  conscious  of  their  distress 
and  perhaps  respond  less  readily  to  what- 
ever instruction  is  given  them,  but  they 
certainly  must  be  given  the  benefits  of 
the  mental  hygiene  movement  by  a  patient 
and  persistent  propaganda. 


THE  SOCIAL  VALUE  OF  RURAL 
EXPERIENCE 


VI 

THE  SOCIAL  VALUE  OF  RURAL 
EXPERIENCE 

Our  social  ideas,  the  expression  of  what 
the  psychologists  define  as  the  social  mind, 
are  influenced  too  much  by  the  thinking 
of  urban  people,  too  little  by  that  of 
people  who  live  in  the  country  and  small 
villages.  There  are  many  reasons  for  this 
undesirable  social  situation.  One  is  the 
outstanding  fact  that  the  city  has  the 
prestige  that  belongs  to  political  and 
commercial  leadership.  The  urban  leaders 
have  for  the  most  part  obtained  their 
position  by  their  possession  of  the  means 
of  control  of  industries  and  of  the  channels 
of  communication,  or  because  of  their  skill 
in  winning  public  attention.  They  have 
become  successful  by  exercising  capabil- 
ities that  naturally  give  them  social 
influence.  They  are  victors  in  contests 
91 


92         RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

that  are  decided  largely  upon  the  basis 
of  superior  ability  in  manipulating  men. 
Their  advance  has  meant  an  increasing 
opportunity  to  influence  the  thought  of 
their  fellows.  In  many  cases  they  have 
deliberately  studied  the  methods  of  influ- 
encing public  opinion  and  have  worked  to 
obtain  control  of  the  modern  equipment 
necessary  to  direct  it.  One  of  the  great 
engines  for  moving  the  public  mind  is  the 
newspaper  and  this  is  always  in  the  hands 
of  urban  leadership  and  a  share  of  its 
power  can  usually  be  had  by  those  who 
have  the  necessary  "pull"  or  cash. 

Socially  the  successful  farmer  belongs  to 
the  opposite  class.  His  success  has  been 
obtained  for  the  most  part  by  his  skill  in 
handling  natural  law.  His  struggle  has 
been  largely  with  the  obstacles  that  arise 
when  one  attempts  to  furnish  a  share  of 
the  food  supply  required  by  a  hungry 
world.  The  farmer's  experience  with  the 
means  of  social  influence  is  limited  and 
in  his  business  there  is  no  need  of  his 
impressing  himself  upon  his  fellows.  On 


VALUE  OF  RURAL  EXPERIENCE       93 

the  other  hand  it  is  natural  that  he  should 
overvalue  the  thinking  of  those  who,  unlike 
himself,  have  developed  the  art  of  making 
social  and  political  impression.  This  tend- 
ency to  discount  his  own  social  contribu- 
tion in  practice — even  though  in  theory  he 
may  often  insist  upon  his  paramount 
social  function — makes  the  farmer  a  good 
follower  and  a  poor  leader. 

And  yet  in  the  nature  of  things  there 
is  nothing  to  demonstrate  that  socially 
those  who  have  the  machinery  that  is 
required  for  the  influencing  of  public 
opinion  or  who  have  learned  the  art  of 
impressing  themselves  upon  their  fellows 
are  the  most  fit  to  direct  the  social  mind. 
The  struggle  with  Nature  teaches  as  much 
that  is  of  lasting  value  for  a  philosophy  of 
personal  or  national  conduct  as  comes 
from  competition  between  people.  Even 
if  the  population  stimulus  of  urban  cen- 
ters brings  forth  men  of  great  ability  who 
do  large  things,  it  by  no  means  follows  that 
these  men  are  wise  merely  because  they 
are  powerful.  And  even  if  they  were 


94    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

justified  in  claiming  superiority  at  every 
point  over  the  successful  men  of  the 
country,  it  would  not  be  for  the  social 
good  that  they  be  given  a  monopoly  of 
social  prestige. 

Contact  with  men  who  occupy  high 
places  in  city  commerce  will  often  con- 
vince any  one  of  a  neutral  and  discrim- 
inating mind  that  these  men  of  social 
power  have  suffered  loss  at  some  points 
in  their  developing  personality  as  a  result 
of  the  struggle  that  has  made  possible 
their  success.  The  present  serious  discord 
between  capital  and  labor  is  fundamentally 
born  of  the  belief  of  some  that  wealth  is 
as  socially  right  in  all  important  matters 
as  it  is  socially  powerful  and  the  faith  of 
others  that  the  social  problems  that  vex 
men  and  women  would  pass  with  the 
destruction  of  wealth's  artificial  social 
advantages..  Each  group  confines  itself  to 
the  territory  of  experience  where  every- 
thing has  to  do  with  matters  of  human 
relationship,  and  each  group  insists  that 
only  one  point  in  that  territory  can  have 


VALUE  OF  RURAL  EXPERIENCE       95 

value  as  a  position  for  the  observing  and 
estimating  of  what  happens  there. 

The  extreme  representatives  of  each 
group  disclose  that  they  have  been  forced 
to  a  narrow  view  of  human  motives  and 
interests  by  their  environmental  expe- 
riences. They  agree  in  their  elevation  of 
the  power  of  money  to  the  supreme  place 
socially — one  defending  the  power  as  be- 
longing of  right  to  wealth,  the  other  re- 
garding the  social  situation  as  due  to 
the  unjust  privileges  of  the  few  who 
prey  upon  the  many. 

The  typical  farmer  is  both  a  capitalist 
and  a  laborer  and  has  a  saner  attitude 
toward  the  difficulty  than  one  can  have 
who  belongs  exclusively  to  either  group. 
He  is  likely  to  accumulate  his  capital  by 
slow  savings,  which  represent  in  some 
degree  real  sacrifice,  and  he  cannot  have 
sympathy  with  those  who  refuse  to  credit 
capital  with  legitimate  social  function. 
He  also  earns  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
his  brow  and  has  therefore  a  first-hand 
knowledge  of  the  burden  of  human  toil. 


96    RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

This  gives  him  an  understanding  of  the 
discontent  of  exploited  labor,  but  also  a 
deep  contempt  for  those  who  have  no 
interest  in  the  work  they  do.  His  thinking 
in  regard  to  the  differences  between  cap- 
ital and  labor  is  born  of  experiences  that 
are  elemental  in  the  human  struggle  for 
life  and  comfort  and  therefore  cannot  be 
safely  turned  aside.  His  sympathies  swing 
toward  one  or  the  other  of  the  conflicting 
groups  according  to  his  most  recent 
economic  experiences.  If  he  has  been 
robbed  by  some  commission  merchant,  he 
joins  the  protest  against  the  unjust  power 
of  capital;  if  he  has  had  a  hired  man  who 
has  worked  indifferently  and  with  no  re- 
spect for  his  vocation,  he  understands  what 
is  meant  by  the  unreasonable  and  impossi- 
ble demands  of  labor. 

The  unchanging  element  in  his  think- 
ing, however,  comes  from  his  personal  con- 
cern with  reference  to  both  capital  and 
labor.  In  other  words,  he  lives  closer  to 
an  earlier  economic  experience  of  man, 
when  the  present  great  gulf  between  those 


VALUE  OF  RURAL  EXPERIENCE       97 

who  furnish  capital  and  those  who  furnish 
labor  for  industry  had  not  been  fixed. 
Neither  the  representatives  of  the  capital 
nor  of  the  labor  group,  when  they  under- 
take what  seem  to  him  extreme  measures, 
can  count  upon  his  support. 

The  abiding  fact  that  denies  to  urban 
thinking  the  right  to  enjoy  a  monopoly 
of  social  influence  is  this:  men  cannot 
safely  build  up  their  social  thinking  from 
experiences  gathered  merely  from  the  field 
of  human  association.  Nature  also  has 
lessons  to  teach  and  lessons  that  do  not 
always  agree  with  the  inferences  that  are 
naturally  made  when  one  thinks  only  of 
the  experiences  of  men  in  their  associa- 
tions. It  is  socially  foolish  and  socially 
unsafe  to  disregard,  or  at  least  to  forget, 
the  value  of  thinking  that  functions,  as 
the  farmer's  does,  in  the  effort  to  control 
Nature  for  a  livelihood  that  directly  con- 
tributes to  human  welfare.  If  such  think- 
ing is  often  prosaic  and  rigid,  it  is  also 
close  to  reality  and  insistent  upon 
practicality.  Narrow  it  may  be  at  times, 


98        RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

as  a  result  of  lack  of  opportunity  to  have 
wide  contact,  but  it  is  substantial  and 
born  of  knowledge  of  the  necessary  limita- 
tions that  Nature  places  upon  the  wishes 
of  men  and  women.  The  farmer  by  his 
vocation  is  taught  to  be  suspicious  of 
easy  solutions.  He  stands  aloof  from  men 
who  claim  to  have  found  the  panacea  and 
regards  men  of  such  abounding  enthusiasm 
as  belonging  to  the  same  group  of  the 
pathetically  deluded  as  the  believers  in  the 
machine  of  perpetual  motion.  The  farmer 
keeps  the  greatest  distance  from  day 
dreaming  and  can  never  have  charged 
against  him  as  a  characteristic  fault  that 
menace  of  self-supporting  fancy  which  is 
so  insidious  in  its  attack  upon  the  mental 
wholesomeness  of  a  multitude  of  people. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  as  a  result  of  a 
constant  and  clear-minded  attention  to  the 
actual  working  of  forces  of  Nature  that 
seem  at  times  friendly  and  at  times 
hostile  to  man's  purposes,  difficult  for  the 
farmer  to  regard  money,  even  with  all  its 
recognized  power,  as  able  to  do  everything, 


VALUE  OF  RURAL  EXPERIENCE       99 

or  the  one  thing  to  be  desired.  This  does 
not  mean,  of  course,  that  the  farmer  is 
indifferent  to  money.  No  one  who  knows 
him  at  all  would  claim  that  he  is  uncon- 
cerned in  regard  to  finances.  He  is  always 
interested  in  money,  and,  like  other  men, 
works  to  make  it.  For  want  of  money 
he  is  often  troubled.  He  knows  how  much 
money  will  do  in  the  sphere  of  Jiuman 
association.  His  everyday  philosophy  re- 
veals this  in  ways  that  one  cannot  mistake. 
He  also  knows,  however,  that  even  money 
has  its  limits  and  that  these  are  seen  in 
man's  relations  with  Nature. 

How  different  it  is  in  the  experience  of 
the  city-dweller!  He  finds  that  money 
will  do  nearly  anything.  With  money  he 
can  have  the  fruits  gathered  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  Without  money  he  is 
helpless.  His  protection  from  disease, 
from  vice,  from  countless  forms  of  dis- 
comfort, disrespect,  and  exploitation  de- 
pends upon  his  ability  to  pay  the  necessary 
rent  for  safe  and  pleasant  surroundings. 
How  much  of  suffering,  both  physical  and 


100       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

mental,  the  want  of  a  "safe"  income 
brings  to  the  urban-dweller  one  may 
discover  by  merely  walking  along  the 
crowded  streets  of  any  city.  Without  the 
necessary  money  he  even  fears  loss  of  a 
respectable  funeral  and  burial  place  in 
case  of  death. 

The  urban  wealthy  keep  close  to  more 
and  more  wonderful  forms  of  luxury  by 
money.  The  urban  poor  keep  out  of  the 
breadline  by  money.  The  middle-class 
know  that  with  a  little  more  money  they 
may  expect  to  join  the  first  class  and  with 
a  little  less  they  may  be  forced  into  the 
second.  Money  seems  the  one  thing  of 
power.  Newspapers,  street  discussions, 
and  public  opinion,  for  the  most  part, 
encourage  the  belief  in  the  omnipotence  of 
money.  Only  in  rare  instances,  as  for 
example  when  there  is  a  death  in  the 
family,  does  the  city  person  from  his  own 
experience  discover  that  money,  which  has 
so  much  of  power  among  men,  cannot 
fully  usurp  Nature's  control  over  the  de- 
sires of  men.  Having  so  often  seen  great 


VALUE  OF  RURAL  EXPERIENCE     101 

natural  obstacles  overcome  by  bridges, 
tunnels,  and  immense  buildings,  the  urban 
person's  final  mental  assumption  is  that, 
given  enough  money,  anything  can  be 
done.  It  is  hardly  strange  that  the 
political  philosophy  which  is  distinctively 
urban  should  be  built  upon  the  supreme 
value  of  money  and  the  problem  of  its 
distribution. 

With  the  present  movement  of  the 
population  toward  urban  centers,  and 
with  the  increasing  ability  of  urban  people 
through  organization  and  modern  forms  of 
communication  to  impress  their  ideas  upon 
men  and  women  far  and  near,  it  is  hardly 
strange  that  we  should  in  our  better 
moments  recoil  from  a  materialism  which 
seems  to  be  creeping  everywhere  into 
men's  souls  and  producing  interpretations 
of  the  purposes  of  life  that  are  false, 
dangerous,  and  sordid. 

The  antidote  is  a  larger  contribution  to 
national  thought  and  policy  from  rural 
people.  Talkers  and  men  skilful  in  manip- 
ulating other  men  have  been  taken  too 


102   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

seriously.  The  doer,  especially  he  who  has 
first-hand  grapple  with  Nature  in  the  con- 
test she  forever  forces  upon  men,  has  a 
word  that  should  be  spoken,  a  word  of 
sanity.  City  people  are  often  too  far 
distant  from  the  realities  of  the  primary 
struggle  with  natural  law  to  be  entrusted 
with  all  the  thinking.  A  visit  a  few  months 
ago  to  any  city  seed-store  would  have 
forced  upon  any  critical  observer  how 
ignorant  city  people  are  of  the  effort 
required  to  produce  even  their  most 
familiar  foods. 

Healthy  national  ideals  require  a  con- 
tribution from  both  urban  and  rural 
experience.  The  first  we  have  in  quantity. 
It  is  the  second  we  lack.  It  is  the  busi- 
ness of  those  who  conserve  social  welfare 
to  respect  the  conclusions  of  rural  think- 
ers and  to  discover  how  rural  experi- 
ence may  make  its  largest  contribution 
to  national  policy  and  social  opinion. 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT 


VII 
RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT 

We  had  just  finished  eating  lunch  at 
one  of  the  more  quiet  hotels  of  our  great- 
est city.  We  lingered  after  the  meal  for 
a  chat,  this  being  one  of  the  privileges  of 
the  place,  untroubled  by  the  type  of 
waiter,  hungry  for  tips,  who  so  often 
at  the  metropolitan  hotels  conveys  unmis- 
takably the  idea  that  one's  departure  is 
expected  to  follow  directly  the  presenta- 
tion of  his  bill.  The  host  was  a  man  of 
business,  famed  for  his  success  and  his 
interest  in  public  affairs,  and  especially 
generous  in  giving  of  his  money  and  time 
to  further  movements  that  attempt  the 
betterment  of  rural  life.  He  had  spent 
his  youth  in  the  open  country  and  had 
never  lost  any  of  the  vividness  of  his 
first  joys.  It  was  this  mutual  interest  in 
rural  problems  that  had  brought  host  and 
guest  together  for  a  quiet  talk. 
105 


106   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

"Will  you  give  me  your  deepest  im- 
pression of  the  city  as  you  came  into  it 
from  the  country?'*  asked  the  man  of 
business  of  the  student. 

"I  hardly  can  claim  one  impression, 
there  are  so  many." 

"But  one  must  be  deeper  or  at  least 
more  consciously  so  than  the  others.  It 
is  that  I  want.  I'll  tell  you  in  return  my 
strongest  impression  when  recently  I 
visited,  for  the  first  time  in  several  years, 
the  farm  where  I  was  born." 

"I  suppose  the  line  of  thought  that 
captured  my  mind  when  I  first  came  into 
the  city  tonight  is  what  you  want." 

"Yes." 

"I  began  to  think  not  of  your  noise  or 
your  hurry,  your  poverty  or  your  crowds, 
but  of  your  atmosphere  of  what  I  call 
popular  materialism.  Do  you  understand 
what  I  mean?" 

"Perhaps  not." 

"I  mean  I  sensed  everywhere  the^m- 
phasis  upon  the^  power  of  money.  I 
suppose  it  is  an  experience  forced  upon 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT    107 

the  consciousness  of  everyone  who  comes 
into  the  life  of  this  great  city  from  a  small 
community.  It  seems  as  if  the  city  was 
a  monument  to  the  idea  that  money 
can  do  everything,  that  the  getting  of 
money  is  the  only  satisfactory  purpose 
of  life." 

"You  must  not  forget  the  miser  of  the 
small  village  or  the  considerable  number 
of  city  people  who  do  not  make  business 
and  money-making  the  chief  object  of 
their  lives." 

"Of  course  in  justice  I  must  remember 
what  you  say,  for  it  is  true.  But  you 
wanted  my  vivid  impression  and  I  give 
it  to  you  as  the  feeling  that  in  the  city 
money  seems  all-powerful.  With  it  you 
are  able  to  get  everything,  to  do  every- 
thing. You  can  command  other  men  and 
they  obey  you.  You  can  reach  over  the 
ocean  and  draw  luxuries  of  every  kind 
to  you  for  your  pleasure  and  your  com- 
fort. Wherever  you  go  you  are  invited 
to  spend  money.  At  least  it  is  suggested 
to  you  how  much  you  could  have  to 


108   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

satisfy  your  wildest  dreams,  had  you  only 
the  necessary  bank  account. 

"On  the  other  hand,  without  money 
you  are  like  a  lost  soul  in  the  midst  of 
Paradise.  With  a  little  money  your  life 
must  be  spent  in  miserable  tenements,  in 
a  dirty,  noisy,  unsanitary  quarter  of  the 
city.  Your  children,  perchance,  must  be- 
come familiar  with  the  neighboring  pros- 
titute. Disease  dogs  your  steps.  Pleas- 
ures are  few.  More  income  means  not 
merely  renting  a  better  tenement,  but  also 
changing  to  a  safer  and  more  pleasant 
neighborhood.  And  always  facing  you  at 
every  turn,  from  every  show  window, 
even  from  the  posters  on  the  bill  boards, 
are  suggestions  of  what  money  could  do 
for  you  if  only  you  had  it.'* 

"I  see  your  point,  but  not  for  many 
years  have  I  felt  the  truth  of  what  you 
say.  I  imagine  I  felt  strongly  the  power 
of  money  when  I  first  came  to  the  city. 
Of  late  I  have  taken  the  matter  for 
granted  and  thought  little  of  it.  Yet  you 
must  admit  that  money  is  power." 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT    109 

"Of  course,  but  not  to  the  degree  the 
city  deludes  one  into  thinking.  Even  in 
the  city  there  is  much  money  cannot  do. 
In  the  smaller  places,  especially  in  the 
country,  one  is  impressed  with  the  limita- 
tions of  money.  In  normal  ways  it  is  not 
possible  to  spend  great  sums  of  money  in 
the  country.  You  do  not  find  methods 
of  getting  rid  of  your  money  attracting 
your  attention  at  every  turn.  If  great 
wealth  is  spent,  a  plan  must  be  worked 
out  and  some  new  enterprise  undertaken 
— for  example,  a  magnificent  residence  or 
a  fancy  farm.  In  the  city  no  forethought 
is  required  to  spend  great  wealth.  The 
opportunity  is  ever  at  one's  elbow.  The 
difficulty  is  not  to  accept  the  importunate 
invitations." 

"I  assume  you  blame  the  cities  for  the 
wide-spread  materialism  which  is  charged 
up  against  modern  life?" 

"Not  altogether.  In  the  country,  as 
you  have  suggested,  we  have  lovers  of 
money  and  we  have  sordid  poverty. 
But  I  do  think  that  urban  life  tends  to 


110       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

emphasize  money-getting  and  to  keep  it 
before  the  mind  in  a  way  that  is  not 
natural  in  the  small  community.  Because 
of  this  I  regard  the  cities  as  the  natural 
strongholds  of  materialism  and  I  see  a 
danger  in  the  urbanizing  movement  of 
modern  civilization.  I  think,  therefore, 
that  men  like  yourself  should  do  every- 
thing possible  to  keep  in  the  public  con- 
sciousness the  splendid  idealism  that  is  in 
the  city.  I  mean  such  kindly  sacrifice  as 
the  settlement  house.  However,  I  have 
talked  enough.  What  is  your  vivid  im- 
pression as  a  result  of  your  visit  to  the 
place  of  your  boyhood?" 

"Well,  before  I  give  you  that,  let  me 
remind  you  that  men  like  myself  get  our 
power  to  help  what  you  call  idealism  largely 
because  of  our  money.  I  suppose  you 
hold,  therefore,  that  even  in  our  dis- 
interested service  we  advertise  the  power 
of  money?" 

"Yes,  I  must  confess  that  your  influence 
is  never  divorced  from  your  standing  as 
one  who  has  made  good  in  the  ways  of 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT    111 

trade.  But  what  of  your  country  im- 
pression?".- 

"There  is  no  place  that  still  seems  so 
beautiful  to  me  as  the  place  of  my  child- 
hood. I  was  born  beside  a  splendid 
river;  and  not  far  from  the  house,  sep- 
arated from  it  by  stretches  of  meadow- 
land,  was  a  thick  and  extensive  forest. 
It  seemed  as  if  I  had  everything  ideal 
for  the  play  of  childhood. 

"Upon  my  recent  visit  I  felt  as  never 
before  the  value  of  what  I  like  to  call 
the  freedom  of  the  spirit.  It  seems  as  if 
y  environment  generously  provides 


what  the  healthy-minded  child  most  needs 
—  an  opportunity  for  the  free  play  of 
the  fancy.  I  call  it  a  spiritual  preparation 
for  life,  but  I  assume  that  the  scientist 
would  describe  it  as  an  experience  of  the 
imagination.  Do  I  make  myself  clear?" 

"Yes,  as  far  as  you  have  gone.  I  covet, 
however,  a  clearer  understanding  of  what 
you  mean." 

"I  mean  what  I  used  to  find  in 
Wordsworth's  poetry  and  in  the  work  of 


112       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

our  own  Whittier.  I  never  read  them 
now,  but  years  ago  I  did  a  little.  You 
were  country-bom  yourself,  as  I  remember. 
Don't  you  recall  how  your  imagination 
made  rich  with  meaning  the  simple  pleas- 
ures and  sports  of  your  early  life?  I  can 
well  remember  hours  of  fishing  at  a  dark 
curve  in  the  river  where  the  water  was 
black  even  at  noon-day  because  of  the 
overhanging  trees.  I  think  I  never  caught 
a  fish  there,  but  there  was  always  some- 
thing about  the  place  that  made  me 
think  that  some  day  a  wonderful  catch 
would  be  made  there.  It  was  a  place 
that  enlivened  the  fancy  and  it  illustrates 
what  I  mean.  There  were  many  other 
such  breeding-spots  for  fancy  scattered 
along  the  miles  of  river  and  woodland 
which  I  grew  to  know  so  well.'* 

"Don't  you  consider  your  play  of  fancy 
mentally  dangerous?" 

"No,  not  when  it  comes  into  the  mind 
with  the  incoming  tide  of  experience. 
There  was  plenty  of  reality.  We  had  our 
discomforts  and  our  disappointments.  We 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT    113 

were  forced  to  take  into  account  the 
causal  order  of  things.  But  the  mind 
had  a  chance  to  add  its  part  to  the  fact 
of  existence.  And  so  it  always  needs  to 
be.  I  have  been  successful  as  a  man  of 
business  in  part  because  of  my  early  use 
of  the  gift  of  imagination.  It  is  bad  to 
have  life  all  imagination,  to  carry  into 
adult  experiences  the  make-believe  of 
childhood,  but  it  is  a  miserable  and  des- 
titute existence  for  any  adult  to  bring  to 
his  work  no  imagination." 

"And  you  regard  your  earlier  use  of 
imagination  as  a  preparation  for  your 
later  use?" 

"Indeed  I  do.  I  also  regard  it  as  the 
best  basis  for  a  reasonable  spiritual  inter- 
pretation of  life.  In  addition  it  furnished 
pleasures,  the  memories  of  which  are 
sweet  and  wholesome  to  this  day." 

"Do  city  children  have  no  similar 
opportunity  for  creating  fancy?" 

"Perhaps  they  do,  but  their  imagination 
is  too  quickly  forced  into  the  hard  forms 
of  adult  experience.  They  feel  all  too 


114   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

soon  the  meaning  of  wealth,  the  punish- 
ments of  poverty.  They  dream  of  more 
of  this  or  less  of  that.  They  covet  pos- 
session of  the  things  they  see  from  the 
store  windows  or  in  the  yards  of  more 
fortunate  children.  The  shadow  of  the 
money-magic  of  which  you  spoke  falls 
too  soon  for  their  later  good  across  their 
path.  With  the  country  boy  and  girl 
this  is  not  likely  to  happen.  Their  expe- 
riences are  more  buoyant,  more  Inter- 
pretive, more  exploring.  Fancy  creates 
and  reveals;  it  does  not  largely  furnish 
the  false  pleasures  of  fictitious  possession. 
This  is  to  me  the  difference.  The  city*7 
may  be  the  richest  environment  for  tEe 
adult.  That  is  a  matter  of  opinion. 
But  I  cannot  see  how  anyone  can  think 
of  it  as  the  best  place  for  the  child.  I 
cannot  believe  that  I  would  have  gotten 
nearly  so  much  of  good  from  my  early 
experiences  if  I  had  lived  in  the  city. 
If  I  am  right,  this  is  another  element  to 
add  to  the  great  urban  problem.  If  the 
experience  of  the  city  child  suffers  spiritual 


RURAL  VS.  URBAN  ENVIRONMENT    115 

privations  from  the  limitations  of  his 
environment,  must  this  not  show  itself  in 
social  tendencies?  In  any  case  I  had  a 
motive  in  what  I  have  said.  You  are 
interested  in  movements  that  attempt  to 
enrich  the  experiences  of  country  boys 
and  girls.  That  is  good,  but  you  must 
not  occupy  all  of  the  child's  time  or 
interest.  Give  him  freedom  to  discover 
his  own  inner  resources,  the  spiritual  union 
between  his  cravings  and  the  richness  of 
nature.  Don't  exile  him  from  nature's 
paradise  by  too  much  adult  supervision, 
organization,  or  influence.  In  my  day  we 
had  too  little  adult  assistance  in  our 
games  and  recreation.  I  can  imagine  a 
condition  where  the  country  childhood 
would  suffer  from  too  much." 

It  was  this  suggestion  that  I  carried 
away  with  me  from  our  conversation. 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER 


VIII 
THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER 

In  discussing  the  mind  of  the  farmer, 
the  difficulty  is  to  find  the  typical  farmer's 
mind  that  north,  south,  east,  and  west 
will  be  accepted  as  standard.  In  our 
science  there  is  perhaps  at  present  no 
place  where  generalization  needs  to  move 
with  greater  caution  than  in  the  state- 
ment of  the  farmer's  psychic  character- 
istics. It  is  human  to  crave  simplicity, 
and  we  are  never  free  from  the  danger 
of  forcing  concrete  facts  into  general  state- 
ments that  do  violence  to  the  opposing 
obstacles. 

The  mind  of  the  farmer  is  as  varied  as 
the  members  of  the  agricultural  class  are 
significantly  different.  And  how  great  are 
these  differences!  The  wheat  farmer  of 
Washington  state  who  receives  for  his 
year's  crop  $106,000  has  little  under- 
standing of  the  life  outlook  of  the  New 
119 


120       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

Englander  who  cultivates  his  small,  rocky, 
hillside  farm.  The  difference  is  not  merely 
that  one  does  on  a  small  scale  what  the 
other  does  in  an  immense  way.  He  who 
knows  both  men  will  hardly  question  that 
the  difference  in  quantity  leads  also  to 
differences  in  quality,  and  in  no  respect 
are  the  two  men  more  certainly  dis- 
tinguishable than  in  their  mental  char- 
acteristics. 

It  appears  useless,  therefore,  to  attempt 
to  procure  for  dissection  a  typical  farmer's 
mind.  In  this  country  at  present  there 
is  no  mind  that  can  be  fairly  said  to 
represent  a  group  so  lacking  in  substantial 
unity  as  the  farming  class,  and  any 
attempt  to  construct  such  a  mind  is  bound 
to  fail.  This  is  less  true  when  the  class 
is  separated  into  sections,  for  the  differ- 
ences between  farmers  are  in  no  small 
measure  geographical.  Indeed,  is  it  not 
a  happy  fact  that  the  American  farmer 
is  not  merely  a  farmer?  Although  it 
complicates  a  rural  problem  such  as  ours, 
it  is  fortunate  that  the  individual  farmer 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        121 

shares  the  larger  social  mind  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  diminish  the  intellectual  in- 
fluences born  of  his  occupation. 

The  method  of  procedure  that  gives 
largest  promise  of  substantial  fact  is  to 
attempt  to  uncover  some  of  the  funda- 
mental influences  that  operate  upon  the 
psychic  life  of  the  farmers  of  America  and 
to  notice,  in  so  far  as  opportunity  per- 
mits, what  social  elements  modify  the 
complete  working  of  these  influences. 

One  influence  that  shows  itself  in  the 
thinking  of  farmers  as  of  fundamental 
character  is,  of  course,  the  occupation  of 
farming  itself.  In  primitive  life  we  not 
only  see  the  importance  of  agricultural 
work  for  social  life  but  we  discover  also 
some  of  the  mental  elements  involved  that 
make  this  form  of  industry  socially  sig- 
nificant. From  the  first  it  called  for  an 
investment  of  self-control,  a  patience,  that 
Nature  might  be  coaxed  to  yield  from  her 
resources  a  reasonable  harvest.  We  find 
therefore  in  primitive  agriculture  a 
hazardous  undertaking  which,  neverthe- 


122       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

less,  lacked  any  large  amount  of  dramatic 
appeal. 

It  is  by  no  means  otherwise  today.  The 
farmer  has  to  be  efficient  in  a  peculiar 
kind  of  self-control.  He  needs  to  invest 
labor  and  foresight  in  an  enterprise  that 
affords  to  the  usual  person  little  of  the 
opportunity  for  quick  returns,  the  sense 
of  personal  achievement,  or  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  desire  for  competitive  face-to- 
face  association  with  other  men  which 
is  offered  in  the  city.  Men  who  cultivate 
on  a  very  large  scale  and  men  who  enjoy 
unusual  social  insight  as  to  the  significance 
of  their  occupation  are  exceptions  to  the 
general  run  of  farmers.  In  these  days  of 
accessible  transportation  we  have  a  rapid 
and  highly  successful  selection  which 
largely  eliminates  from  the  farming  class 
the  type  that  does  not  naturally  possess 
the  power  to  be  satisfied  with  the  slowly 
acquired  property,  impersonal  success,  and 
non-dramatic  activities  of  farming.  This 
process  which  eliminates  the  more  restless 
and  commercially  ambitious  from  the 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        123 

country  has,  of  course,  been  at  work  for 
generations.  It  has  tended,  therefore,  to 
a  uniformity  of  mental  characteristics,  but 
it  has  by  no  means  succeeded  in  procuring 
a  homogeneous  rural  mind.  The  move- 
ment has  been  somewhat  modified  by  the 
return  of  people  to  the  country  from  the 
city  and  by  the  influence  on  the  country 
mind  of  the  more  restless  and  adventurous 
rural  people  who,  for  one  reason  or  another, 
have  not  migrated.  In  the  far  West 
especially,  attention  has  been  given  to 
the  rural  hostility  to,  or  at  least  the  mis- 
understanding of,  city  movements  which 
attempt  ambitious  social  advances.  It  is 
safe  to  assume  that  this  attitude  of  rural 
people  is  widespread  and  is  noticeable 
far  west  merely  because  of  a  greater  frank- 
ness. The  easterner  hides  his  attitude 
because  he  has  become  conscious  that  it 
opens  him  to  criticism.  This  attitude  of 
rural  hostility  is  rooted  in  the  fundamental 
differences  between  the  thinking  of  coun- 
try and  of  city  people,  due  largely  to  the 
process  of  social  selection.  This  mental 


124       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

difference  gives  constant  opportunity  for 
social  friction.  If  the  individuals  who  live 
most  happily  in  the  city  and  in  the  country 
are  contrasted,  there  is  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  mental  opposition  expresses  ner- 
vous differences.  In  one  we  have  the 
more  rapid,  more  changeable,  and  more 
consuming  thinker,  while  the  thought  of 
the  other  is  slower,  more  persistent,  and 
less  wasteful  of  nervous  energy. 

The  work  of  the  average  farmer  brings 
him  into  limited  association  with  his  y 
fellows  as  compared  with  the  city  worker. 
This  fact  also  operates  upon  him  men- 
tally. He  has  less  sense  of  social  varia- 
tions and  less  realization  of  the  need  of 
group  solidarity.  This  results  in  his  having 
less  social  passion  than  his  city  brother, 
except  when  he  is  caught  in  a  periodic 
outburst  of  economic  discontent  expressed 
in  radical  agitation,  and  also  in  his  having 
a  more  feeble  class-consciousness  and  a 
weaker  basis  for  cooperation.  This  last 
limitation  is  one  from  which  the  farmer 
seriously  suffers. 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        125 

The  farmer's  lack  of  contact  with 
antagonistic  groups,  because  his  work 
keeps  him  away  from  the  centers  where 
social  discontent  boils  with  passion  and 
because  it  prevents  his  appreciating  class 
differences,  makes  him  a  conservative 
element  in  our  national  life,  but  one  al- 
ways big  with  the  danger  of  a  blind 
servitude  to  traditions  and  archaic  social 
judgments.  The  thinking  of  the  farmer 
may  be  either  substantial  from  his  sense 
of  personal  sufficiency  or  backward  from 
his  lack  of  contact.  The  decision  regard- 
ing his  attitude  is  made  by  the  influences 
that  enter  his  life,  in  addition  to  those 
born  of  his  occupation. 

At  this  point,  however,  it  would  be 
serious  to  forget  that  some  of  the  larger 
farming  enterprises  are  carried  on  so 
differently  that  the  manager  and  owner  are 
more  like  the  factory  operator  than  the 
usual  farmer.  To  them  the  problem  is 
labor-saving  machinery,  efficient  manage- 
ment, labor  cost,  marketing  facilities,  and 
competition.  They  are  not  especially 


126   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

influenced  by  the  fact  that  they  happen 
to  handle  land  products  rather  than  man- 
ufactured articles. 

Much  has  been  made  of  the  farmer's 
hand-to-hand  grapple  with  a  capricious 
and  at  times  frustrating  Nature.  This 
emphasis  is  deserved,  for  the  farmer  is 
out  upon  the  frontier  of  human  control 
of  natural  forces.  Even  modern  science, 
great  as  is  its  service,  cannot  protect  him 
from  the  unexpected  and  the  disappoint- 
ing. Insects  and  weather  sport  with 
his  purposes  and  give  his  efforts  the 
atmosphere  of  chance.  It  is  not  at  all 
strange,  therefore,  that  the  farmer  feels 
drawn  to  fatalistic  interpretations  of  ex- 
perience which  he  carries  over  to  lines  of 
thought  other  than  those  connected  with 
his  business. 

A  second  important  influence  that  has 
helped  to  make  the  mind  of  the  farmer 
has  been  isolation.  In  times  past,  without 
doubt,  this  has  been  powerful  in  its  effect 
upon  the  mind  of  the  farmer.  It  is  less 
so  now  because,  as  everyone  knows,  the 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        127 

farmer  is  protected  from  isolation  by 
modern  inventions.  It  is  necessary  tore- 
call,  however,  that  isolation  is  in  relation 
to  one's  needs  and  that  we  too  often 
neglect  the  fact  that  the  very  relief 
that  has  removed  from  country  people 
the  more  apparent  isolation  of  physical 
distance  has  often  intensified  the  craving 
for  closer  and  more  frequent  contact  with 
persons  than  the  country  usually  permits. 
Whether  isolation  as  a  psychic  experience 
has  decreased  for  many  in  the  country  is 
a  matter  of  doubt.  Certainly  most  minds 
need  the  stimulus  of  human  association 
for  both  happiness  and  healthiness,  and 
even  yet  the  minds  of  farmers  disclose  the 
narrowness,  suspiciousness,  and  discontent 
of  place  that  isolation  brings.  It  makes  a 
difference  in  social  attitude  whether  the 
telephone,  automobile,  and  parcel  post 
draw  the  people  nearer  together  in  a  com- 
mon community  life  or  whether  they  bring 
the  people  under  the  magic  of  the  city's 
quantitative  life  and  in  this  way  cause 
rural  discontent. 


128       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

The  isolation  from  the  great  business 
centers  which  has  kept  farmers  from  having 
personally  a  wide  experience  with  modern 
business  explains  in  part  the  suspicious 
attitude  rural  people  often  take  into 
their  commercial  relations.  This  has  been 
expressed  in  a  way  one  can  hardly  forget 
by  Tolstoi  in  his  "Resurrection,"  when 
his  hero,  from  moral  sympathy  with  land 
reform,  undertakes  to  give  his  tenants 
land  under  conditions  more  to  their  ad- 
vantage and,  much  to  his  surprise,  finds 
them  hostile  to  the  plan.  They  had  been 
too  often  tricked  in  the  past  and  felt  too 
little  acquainted  with  business  methods 
to  have  any  confidence  in  the  new  plan 
which  claimed  benevolent  motives.  It  is 
only  fair  to  admit  that  the  farmer  differs 
from  others  of  his  social  rank  only  in 
degree,  and  that  his  experiences  in  the 
past  appear  to  him  to  justify  his  skeptical 
attitude.  He  has  at  times  suffered  ex- 
ploitation; what  he  does  not  realize  is 
that  this  has  been  made  possible  by  his 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  ways  of  modern 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        129 

business  and  by  his  failure  to  organize. 
The  farmer  is  beginning  to  appreciate  the 
significance  of  marketing.  Unfortunately, 
he  too  often  carries  his  suspiciousness, 
which  has  resulted  from  business  expe- 
riences, into  many  other  lines  of  action 
and  thinking,  and  thus  robs  himself  of 
enthusiasm  and  social  confidence. 

A  third  important  element  in  the  making 
of  the  farmer's  mind  may  be  broadly 
designated  as  suggestion.  The  farmer  is 
like  other  men  in  that  his  mental  out- 
look is  largely  colored  by  the  suggestions 
that  enter  his  life. 

It  is  this  fact,  perhaps,  that  explains 
why  the  farmer's  mind  does  not  express 
more  clearly  vocational  character,  for  no 
other  source  of  persistent  suggestions  has 
upon  most  men  the  influence  of  the  news- 
paper, and  each  day,  almost  everywhere, 
the  daily  paper  comes  to  the  farmer 
with  its  appealing  suggestions.  Of  course 
the  paper  represents  the  urban  point  of 
view  rather  than  the  rural,  but  in  the 
deepest  sense  it  may  be  said  to  look  at 


130   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

life  from  the  human  outlook,  the  way 
the  average  man  sees  things.  The  news- 
paper, therefore,  feeds  the  farmer's  mind 
with  suggestions  and  ideas  that  counteract 
the  influences  that  specially  emphasize 
the  rural  environment.  It  keeps  him  in 
contact  with  thinking  and  events  that  are 
world-wide,  and  unconsciously  permeates 
his  motives,  at  times  giving  him  urban 
cravings  that  keep  him  from  utilizing  to 
the  full  his  social  resources  in  the  country. 
Any  attempt  to  understand  rural  life  that 
minimizes  the  common  human  fellowship 
which  the  newspaper  offers  the  farmer  is 
certain  to  lead  to  unfortunate  misinter- 
pretation. Mentally  the  farmer  is  far 
from  being  isolated  in  his  experiences,  for 
he  no  longer  is  confined  to  the  world  of 
local  ideas  as  he  once  was.  This  constant 
daily  stimulation  from  the  world  of  bus- 
iness, sports,  and  public  affairs  at  times 
awakens  his  appetite  for  urban  life  and 
makes  him  restless,  or  encourages  his 
removal  to  the  city,  or  makes  him  demand 
as  much  as  possible  of  the  quantitative 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        131 

pleasures  and  recreations  of  city  life.  In 
a  greater  degree,  however,  the  paper  con- 
tents his  mental  need  for  contact  with 
life  in  a  more  universal  way  than  his 
particular  community  allows.  The  auto- 
mobile and  other  modern  inventions  also 
serve  the  farmer,  as  does  the  newspaper, 
by  providing  mental  suggestions  from  an 
extended  environment. 

A  very  important  source  of  suggestion, 
as  abnormal  psychology  so  clearly  demon- 
strates, at  present,  is  the  impressions  of 
childhood.  Rural  life  tends  on  the  whole 
to  intensify  the  significant  events  of  early 
life,  because  of  the  limited  amount  of 
exciting  experiences  received  as  compared 
with  city  life.  Parental  influence  is  mor^  ^ 
important  because  it  suffers  less  compete 
tion.  This  fact  of  the  meaning  of  early 
suggestions  appears,  without  doubt,  in 
various  ways  and  forbids  the  scientist's 
assuming  that  rural  thinking  is  made 
uniform  by  universal  and  unvaried  sug- 
gestions. 

The  discontent  of  rural  parents  with 


132   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

reference  to  their  environment  or  occupa- 
tion, due  to  their  natural  urban  tendencies, 
or  to  their  failure  to  succeed,  or  to  the 
hard  conditions  of  their  farm  life,  has 
some  influence  in  sending  rural  youth  to 
the  city.  Accidental  or  incidental  sug- 
gestion often  repeated  is  especially  pen- 
etrating in  childhood,  and  no  one  who 
knows  rural  people  can  fail  to  notice 
parents  who  are  prone  to  such  suggestions 
expressing  rural  discontent.  In  the  same 
way,  suspiciousness  or  jealousy  with  ref- 
erence to  particular  neighbors  or  associates 
leads,  when  it  is  often  expressed  before 
children,  to  general  suspiciousness  or  trivial 
sensitiveness.  The  emotional  obstacles  to 
the  get-together  spirit — obstacles  which 
vex  the  rural  worker — in  no  small  degree 
have  their  origin  in  suggestion  given  in 
childhood. 

The  country  is  concerned  with  another 
source  of  suggestion  which  has  more  to 
do  with  the  efficiency  of  the  rural  mind 
than  its  content,  and  that  is  the  matter 
of  sex.  Students  of  rural  life  apparently 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  FARMER        133 

give  this  element  less  attention  than  it 
deserves.  As  Professor  Ross  has  pointed 
out  in  "South  of  Panama,"  for  example, 
the  precocious  development  of  sex  tends 
to  enfeeble  the  intellect  and  to  prevent  t 
the  largest  kind  of  mental  capacity.  It^~ 
is  unsafe  at  present  to  generalize  regarding 
the  differences  between  country  and  city 
life  in  matters  of  sex,  but  it  is  certainly 
true,  when  rural  life  is  empty  of  command- 
ing interests  and  when  it  is  coarsened  by 
low  traditions  and  the  presence  of  de- 
fective persons,  that  there  is  a  precocious 
emphasis  of  sex.  This  is  expressed  both 
by  early  marrying  and  by  loose  sex  rela- 
tions. It  is  doubtful  whether  the  com- 
mercializing of  sex  attraction  in  the  city 
has  equal  mental  significance,  for  certainly 
science  clearly  shows  that  it  is  the  pre- 
cocious expression  of  sex  that  has  largest 
psychic  dangers.  In  so  far  as  the  environ- 
ment of  a  rural  community  tends  to  bring 
the  sexual  life  to  early  expression,  we  have 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  at  this 
point  at  least  the  influence  of  the  com- 


134   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

munity  is  such  as  to  tend  toward  a  com- 
parative mental  arrest  or  a  limiting  of 
mental  ability,  for  which  the  country 
later  suffers  socially.  Each  student  of 
rural  life  must,  from  experience  and 
observation,  evaluate  for  himself  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  sex  precociousness.  When 
sex  interests  become  epidemic  and  the 
general  tendency  is  toward  precocious 
sex  maturity,  the  country  community  is 
producing  for  itself  men  and  women  of 
inferior  resources  as  compared  with  their 
natural  possibilities.  Even  the  supposed 
social  wholesomeness  of  earlier  marrying 
in  the  country  must  be  scrutinized  with 
the  value  of  sex  sublimation  during  the 
formative  years  clearly  in  mind. 


PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  RURAL 
MIGRATION 


IX 

PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  RURAL 
MIGRATION 

In  modern  civilization  the  increasing 
attractiveness  of  the  city  is  one  of  the 
apparent  social  facts.1  Social  psychology 
may  reasonably  be  expected  to  throw  light 
upon  the  causes  of  this  movement  of 
population  from  rural  to  urban  conditions 
of  life.  Striking  illustrations  of  individual 
preference  for  city  life,  even  in  opposition 
to  the  person's  economic  interests,  suggest 
that  this  problem  of  social  behavior  so 
characteristic  of  our  time  contains  im- 
portant mental  factors. 

Since  sensations  give  the  mind  its  raw 
material,2  the  mind  may  be  said  to  crave 
stimulation.  "In  the  most  general  way 
of  viewing  the  matter,  beings  that  seem 
to  us  to  possess  minds  show  in  their 

Gillette,  "Constructive  Rural  Sociology,"  p.  42. 
2Parmelee,  "The  Science  of  Human  Behavior,"  p.  290. 
137 


138   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

physical  life  what  we  may  call  a  great 
and  discriminating  sensitiveness  to  what 
goes  on  at  any  present  time  in  their 
environment."3  This  interest  of  the  mind 
in  the  receiving  of  stimulation  for  its 
own  activity  is  an  essential  element  in 
any  social  problem.  The  individual  reacts 
socially  "with  a  great  and  discriminating 
sensitiveness"  to  his  environment,  just  as 
he  reacts  physically  to  his  stimuli  to  con- 
serve pleasure  and  avoid  pain. 

The  fundamental  sources  of  stimuli  are, 
of  course,  common  to  all  forms  of  social 
grouping,  but  one  difference  between  rural 
and  urban  life  expresses  itself  in  the 
greater_difficnlty  -xif .  obtaining  under  rural 
co^ditions_  jcertain  definite  stimulations 
frojn^the  -  environment  This  fact  is 
assumed  both  by  those  who  hold  the 
popular  belief  that  most  great  men  are 
country-born  and  by  those  who  accept 
the  thesis  of  Ward  that  "fecundity  in 
eminent  persons  seems  then  to  be  inti- 


3Royce,  "Outlines  of  Psychology,"  p.  21. 


PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  MIGRATION    139 

mately  connected  with  cities."4  The  city 
may  be  called  an  environment  of  greater 
quantitative  stimulations  than  the  coun- 
try. The  city  furnishes  forceful,  varied,^ 
and  artificial  stimuli;  the  country  affords 
an  environment  of  stimuli  in  comparison  , 
less  strong  and  more  uniform.  Minds  that 
crave  external,  quantitative  stimuli  for 
pleasing  experiences  are  naturally  attracted 
by  the  city  and  repelled  by  the  monotony 
of  the  country.  On  the  other  hand, 
those  who  find  their  supreme  mental 
satisfactions  in  their  interpretation  or 
appreciation  of  the  significant  expression 
of  the  beauty  and  lawfulness  of  nature 
discover  what  may  be  called  an  environ- 
ment of  qualitative  stimulations.  The 
city  appeals,  therefore,  to  those  who  with 
passive  attitude  need  quantitative,  ex- 
ternal experiences;  the  country  is  a 
splendid  opportunity  for  those  who  are 
fitted  to  create  their  mental  satisfactions 
from  the  active  working  over  of  stimuli 


•Ward,  "Applied  Sociology,"  pp.  169-98. 


140   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

that  appear  commonplace  to  the  unin- 
terpreting  mind.  If  Coney  Island,  with 
its  noise  and  manufactured  stimulations, 
is  representative  of  the  city,  White's 
"Natural  History  of  Selborne"  is  a  char- 
acteristic product  of  the  wealth  of  the 
country  to  the  mind  gifted  with  penetrating 
skill. 

Doubtless  this  difference  between  rural 
and  urban  is  nothing  new,  and  from  the 
beginning  of  civilization  there  have  been 
the  country-minded  and  the  city-minded. 
In  our  modern  life,  however,  there  is  much 
that  increases  the  difference  and  much 
that  stimulates  the  movement  of  the  city- 
minded  from  the  country.  Present-day 
life  with  its  complexity  and  its  rapidity  of 
change  makes  it  difficult  for  one  to  get 
time  to  develop  the  active  mind  that 
\  makes  appreciation  possible.  Our  children 
precociously  obtain  adult  experiences  of 
quantitative  character  in  an  age  of  the 
automobile  and  moving  pictures,  and  an 
unnatural  craving  is  created  for  an  environ- 
ment of  excitement,  a  life  reveling  in 


PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  MIGRATION    141 

noise  and  change.  Business,  eager  for 
gain,  exploits  this  demand  for  stimulation, 
and  social  contagion  spreads  the  restless- 
ness of  our  population.  The  urban  possi- 
bilities for  stimulation  are  advertised  as 
never  before  in  the  country  by  the  press 
with  its  city  point  of  view,  by  summer 
visitors,  and  by  the  reports  of  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  most  fortunate  of  those  who 
have  removed  to  the  cities.  In  an  age 
restless  and  mobile,  with  family  traditions 
less  strong,  and  transportation  exceedingly 
cheap  and  inviting,  it  is  hardly  strange 
that  so  many  of  the  young  people  are 
eager  to  leave  the  country,  which  they 
pronounce  dead — as  it  literally  is  to  them 
— for  the  lively  town  or  city.  It  is  by 
no  means  true  that  this  removal  always 
means  financial  betterment  or  that  such 
is  its  motive.  It  is  very  significant  to 
find  so  many  farmers  who  have  made 
their  wealth  in  the  country,  or  who  are 
living  on  their  rents,  moving  to  town  to 
enjoy  life.  May  it  not  be  that  a  new 
condition  has  come  about  in  our  day  by 


142   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

the  possibility  that  there  are  more  who 
exhaust  Jtheir  environ  merit  in  the  country 
before  habit  with  its  cojttservatiye^ tendency., 
is  jatble  to  hold  them  on  the  fannj'  One 
who  knows  the  discontent  of  urban- 
minded  people  who  have  continued  to  live 
in  the  country  can  hardly  doubt  that 
habit  has  tended  to  conserve  the  rural 
population  in  a  way  that  it  does  not  now. 
And  one  must  not  forget  the  pressure  of 
the  discontent  of  these  urban-minded 
country  parents  upon  their  children.  The 
faculty  of  any  agricultural  college  is 
familiar  with  the  farmer's  son  who  has 
been  taught  never  to  return  to  the  farm 
after  graduation  from  college.  That  the 
city-minded  preacher  and  teacher  add 
^hejr_cgntribution^  to  jrural  restlessness  is~ 
j2Qmmon  thoughtr— 

In  the  city  the  sharp  contrast  between 
labor  and  recreation  increases  without 
doubt  the  appeal  of  the  city  to  many. 
The  factory  system  not  only  satisfies  the 
gregarious  instinct,  it  also  gives  an  ab- 
solute break  between  the  working  time 


PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  MIGRATION    143 

and  the  period  of  freedom.  In  so  far  as 
labor  represents  monotony,  it  emphasizes 
the  value  of  the  hours  free  from  toil. 
This  contrast  is  often  in  the  city  the 
difference  between  very  great  monotony 
anH^excessive  jaccitement  after  working 
hours.  It  has  been  pointed  out  often  that 
city  recreation  shows  the  demand  for 
great  contrast  between  it  and  the  fatigue 
of  monotonous  labor.  ^o_greatja  contrast 
between  work  and  play — monotony  and 
freedom — is_noJLpossible~4a  4he  country 
ejiyjronment.  In  the  midst  of  country 
recreations  there  are  likely  to  be  sug- 
gestions of  the  preceding  work  or  the  work 
that  is  to  follow.  It  is  as  if  the  city 
recreations  were  held  in  factories.  Country 
places  of  play  are  usually  in  close  contact 
with  fields  of  labor.  Often  indeed  the 
country  town  provides  the  worker  with 
very  little  opportunity  for  recreation  in 
any  form.  In  rural  places  recreation 
cannot  be  had  at  stated  periods.  Weather 
or  market  conditions  must  have  precedence 
over  the  holiday.  Recreation,  therefore, 


144   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

cannot  be  shared  as  a  common  experience 
to  such  an  extent  by  country  workers  as 
is  possible  in  the  city.  Since  the  rural 
population  is  very  largely  interested  in 
the  same  farming  problems,  even  conversa- 
tion after  thejvork  of  the  day  is  less  free 
-&om-J£jsmess  concerns  than  isTusually 
that  of  city  people. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  sharp  con- 
trast between  work  and  play  in  the 
country  no  doubt  is  one  reason  for  the 
ever-present  danger  of  recourse  to  the  sex 
instinct  for  stimulation.  One  source  of 
excitement  is  always  present  ready  to 
give  temporary  relief  to  the  barren  life 
of  young  people.  Not  only  of  the  girl 
entering  prostitution  may  it  be  said  that 
with  her  the  sex  instinct  is  less  likely 
"to  be  reduced  in  comparative  urgency  by 
the  volume  and  abundance  of  other  sat- 
isfactions."5 The  barrenness  of  country 
life  to  the  girl  growing  into  womanhood, 
hungry  for  amusement,  is  one  large  reason 


'Flexner,  "Prostitution  in  Europe,"  p.  72. 


why  the  country  furnishes  so  large  a 
proportion  of  prostitutes  to  the  city. 
"This  civilizational  factor  of  prostitution, 
the  influence  of  luxury  and  excitement 
and  refinement  in  attracting  the  girl  of 
the  people,  as  the  flame  attracts  the  moth, 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
country  dwellers  who  chiefly  succumb  to 
the  fascination.  The  girls  whose  adolescent 
explosive  and  orgiastic  impulses,  some- 
times increased  by  a  slight  congenital 
lack  of  nervous  balance,  have  been  latent 
in  the  dull  monotony  of  country  life  and 
heightened  by  the  spectacle  of  luxury  act- 
ing on  the  unrelieved  drudgery  of  town 
life,  find  at  last  their  complete  gratifica- 
tion in  the  career  of  a  prostitute."6 

Consideration  of  the  part  played  in 
the  rural  exodus  by  the  nature  of  the 
stimuli  demanded  by  the  individual  for 
satisfaction  or  the  hope  of  satisfaction  in 
life  suggests  that  the  school  is  the  most 
efficient  instrument  for  rural  betterment. 


•Ellis,  "Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Sex."  VI,  293. 


146   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

/  The  country  environment  contains  sources 
S  of  inexhaustible  satisfaction  for  those  who 
1  have  the  power  to  appreciate  them.  FarnW 
ing  cannot  be  monotonous  to  the  trained 
agriculturist.  It  is  full  of  dramatic  and 
stimulating  interests.  Toil  is  colored  by 
investigation  and  experiment.  The  by- 
products of  labor  are  constant  and  prized 
beyond  measure  by  the  student  and  lover 
of  nature.  Even  the  struggle  with  oppos- 
ing forces  lends  zest  to  the  educated 
farmer's  work.  This  does  not  mean  that 
such  a  farmer  runs  a  poet's  farm,  as  did 
Burns,  with  its  inevitable  financial  failure, 
but  rather  that  the  farmer  is  a  skilled 
workman  with  an  understanding  and  in- 
terpreting mind.  If  the  farming  industry, 
under  proper  conditions,  could  offer  no 
satisfaction  to  great  human  instincts,  it 
would  be  strange  indeed  when  one  remem- 
bers the  long  period  that  man  has  spent 
in  the  agricultural  stage  of  culture.  City 
dwellers  in  their  hunt  for  stimulation  are 
likely  to  face  either  the  breakdown  of 
physical  vitality  or  the  blunting  of  their 


PSYCHIC  CAUSES  OF  MIGRATION    147 

sensibilities.  Country  joys,  on  the  other 
hand,  cost  less  in  the  nervous  capital 
expended  to  obtain  them.  The  urban 
worker,  in  thinking  of  his  hours  of  free- 
dom in  sharp  contrast  with  the  time  spent 
at  his  machine,  forgets  his  constant  tempta- 
tion to  use  most  of  his  surplus  income  in 
the  satisfying  of  an  unnatural  craving  for 
stimulation  created  by  the  conditions  of 
his  environment.  This  need  not  be  true 
of  the  rural  laborer  and  usually  is  not. 

It  is  useless  to  deny  the  important  and 
wholesome  part  that  the  urban  life  and 
the  city-minded  man  play  in  the  great 
social  complex  which  we  call  modern 
civilization,  but  he  who  would  advance 
country  welfare  may  wisely  agitate  for 
country  schools  fitted  to  adjust  the  ma- 
jority of  country  children  to  their  environ- 
ment, that  they  may  as  adults  live  injl 
the  country  successful  and  contented  livesJJ 
We  need  never  fear  having  too  few  of 
the  urban-minded  or  the  able  exploiters  of 
talent  who  require  the  city  as  their  field 
of  activity.  The  present  tendency  makes 


148   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

necessary  the  development  of  country 
schools  able  to  change  the  apparent  empti- 
ness of  rural  environment  and  the  excessive 
appeal  of  urban  excitement  into  a  clear 
recognition  on  the  part  of  a  greater 
number  of  country  people  of  the  satis- 
fying joys  of  rural  stimulations. 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES 

The  individualism  of  rural  thinking  has 
been  universally  recognized.  It  is  this 
attitude  of  mind  that  has  produced  much 
of  the  strength  of  rural  character  and  much 
of  the  weakness  of  rural  society.  That 
the  closer  contact  of  town  and  country 
and  the  rapidly  developing  urban  mind 
require  more  social  thinking  upon  the 
part  of  country  people  few  can  doubt. 
There  are  some  people,  however,  who  fear 
this  socializing  influence  of  urban  thought 
in  the  country,  because  they  believe  that 
it  will  antagonize  rural  individualism  in 
such  a  way  as  to  destroy  the  fundamental 
distinction  between  rural  and  urban  ethics. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  people 
in  these  days  obtain  their  sense  of  per- 
sonal responsibility  from  their  confidence 
in  their  social  function,  and  this  confidence 
is  not  developed  by  an  excessive  individ- 
151 


152   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

ualism.  The  farmer,  like  men  in  other 
occupations,  needs  to  make  realization  of 
his  social  service  the  corner  stone  of  his 
moral  life.  This  world  war  has  made 
every  thinking  person  realize  the  un- 
rivaled function  that  the  farmer  performs 
socially,  and  it  is  fortunate  for  the  future 
of  rural  welfare  that  what  has  always 
been  true  is  at  last  finding  adequate 
appreciation.  It  is  the  farmer  himself 
who  has  most  suffered  in  the  recent  past 
from  not  realizing  the  value  of  his  social 
contribution.  The  widespread  thoughtless 
indifference  to  his  social  service  has,  at 
least  in  the  oldest  portions  of  the  nation, 
given  him  an  irritating  social  skepticism 
and  driven  him  into  a  dissatisfying  indus- 
trial isolation.  We  naturally  antagonize 
what  we  do  not  share  and  the  farmer 
when  he  has  thought  himself  little  recog- 
nized as  a  social  agent  has  had  his  doubts 
about  the  justice  and  sanity  of  public 
opinion. 

It   was   doubly   unfortunate   that   this 
situation  developed  at  a  time  when  re- 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     153 

ligion  was  called  upon  to  make  heroic 
changes  in  order  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
needs  of  modern  life.  Formerly  religion 
gave  rural  thinking  a  larger  outlook 
than  individual  experience  by  providing 
an  outstretching  theological  environment. 
Rather  lately  this  environment  has  ceased 
to  satisfy  the  needs  of  rural  people.  Re- 
ligion has  in  the  city  become  social  in  a 
way  of  which  our  fathers  did  not  dream, 
and  in  the  country  it  must  find  its  vigor 
also  by  introducing  the  believer  to  his 
social  environment  in  such  a  way  as  to 
emphasize  social  function,  as  much  as 
personal  inward  obligations  formerly  were 
emphasized  by  theology. 

We  need,  therefore,  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  country  that  the  native  sense  of 
personal  importance  characteristic  of  rural 
thinking  should  be  brought  into  contact 
with  social  need,  so  that  it  may  function 
socially.  Out  of  this  movement  will  issue 
most  happily  a  great  social  optimism  in 
the  country  and  individualism  will  lose 
nothing  by  being  adjusted  to  modern 


154   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

social  needs.  The  chief  agencies  that 
socialize  rural  thinking  are  the  church,  the 
school,  the  press,  secret  societies  and  clubs, 
and  the  industry  of  farming  itself. 

The  effective  rural  church  as  a  social- 
izing agency  has  a  commanding  position. 
Even  the  inefficient  church  has  more  social 
influence  than  appears  on  the  surface.  In 
a  considerable  part  of  the  area  of  social 
inspiration  the  Church  has  an  absolute 
monopoly.  The  rural  church,  however, 
has  been  until  recently  too  well  content 
with  an  individual  ethics  that  modern 
life  has  made  obsolete.  In  our  day 
healthy -minded  religion  is  forcing  men  and 
women  to  see  their  duties  in  social  forms. 
It  is  becoming  clear  that  one  cannot  save 
his  own  soul  in  full  degree  if  attention 
is  concentrated  upon  personal  salvation. 
The  country  ministry  is  beginning  to  feel 
the  changing  order  of  things  and  there  is 
an  increasing  attempt  to  build  up  a 
socializing  institution  in  the  Church.  Such 
a  radical  readjustment  is  not  easily  made, 
nor  can  we  expect  it  to  be  a  complete 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     155 

success.  Ministers  are  puzzled  how  to 
work  out  the  new  program;  they  even  at 
times  become  discouraged  as  a  result 
of  disappointments.  Impatience  may  be 
made  the  cause  of  defeat  in  such  a  reform. 
It  is  much  to  ask  of  our  generation  that 
it  turn  about  face  morally.  Yet  the 
dangerous  thing  is  sure  to  happen  when 
no  effort  is  made  to  influence  the  Church 
to  assume  a  moral  social  function  in  the 
country.  We  think  as  a  people  in  social 
terms  and  the  church  that  remains  back- 
ward in  assuming  social  duties  is  bound 
to  be  repudiated  by  the  program  of  vital 
Christianity.  The  church  that  is  strug- 
gling to  maintain  the  old-time  individual- 
ism is  driven  first  to  isolation  and  later  to 
social  hostility  and  moral  stagnation.  The 
rural  church  will  move  on  more  smoothly 
if  it  can  obtain  better-trained  leadership. 
The  minister  is  not  yet  given  an  adequate 
social  view  in  some  of  our  theological 
seminaries,  great  as  have  been  the  changes 
in  theological  preparation  during  the  last 
twenty  years.  It  is  natural  enough  that 


156       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

the  more  socially  minded  of  our  preachers 
should  rapidly  drift  cityward,  for  in  the 
urban  centers  they  can  obtain  the  sym- 
pathy and  opportunities  that  they  crave. 

Sectarianism  narrows  the  social  view- 
point. It  is  true  that  it  brings  one  church 
into  fellowship  with  outside  churches  of 
the  same  denomination,  but  it  makes  for 
moral  division  rather  than  unity  and 
magnifies  differences  rather  than  similar- 
ities in  the  community  life.  Sectarianism 
is  very  largely  maintained  by  churches  in 
small  places.  Where  church  competition 
is  severe,  and  especially  when  church  sup- 
port is  dwindling,  the  Church  advertises 
its  distinctiveness  and  enters  upon  a 
life-and-death  grapple  with  its  neighbor 
institutions.  Of  course  this  develops  sec- 
tarianism and  forbids  the  wide  outlook 
in  its  teaching  that  is  required  of  a  suc- 
cessful socializing  agency. 

There  is  positive  need  of  church  federa- 
tion if  the  rural  church  is  to  do  its  social 
service  properly.  The  resources  of  a 
country  community  cannot  be  scattered 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     157 

if  social  enterprises  are  to  be  successfully 
carried  on.  These  undertakings  are  of 
necessity  expensive  in  proportion  to  com- 
munity resources,  both  in  equipment  and 
leadership.  Therefore,  the  religious  work 
must  be  hampered  in  its  social  contribution 
unless  there  shall  be  a  greater  concentra- 
tion of  religious  resources.  This  fact 
appears  clearly  with  reference  to  work 
carried  on  by  the  rural  church  by  means 
of  a  community-center  or  parish  house. 
No  form  of  service  promises  more  for 
country  welfare,  but  seldom  can  it  be 
continued  successfully  year  after  year  in. 
a  rural  town  or  small  village  unless  there 
is  a  concentration  of  the  religious  resources 
of  the  community. 

Fortunately  we  have  seen  of  late  a 
vigorous  effort  to  improve  the  rural  schools 
and  to  make  them  more  modern.  The 
endeavor  h&s  been  made  to  bring  the 
schools  more  intimately  into  contact  with 
their  environment.  This  movement  nat- 
urally tends  to  increase  the  effectiveness 
of  the  schools  as  a  socializing  agency 


158   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

because  the  viewpoint  that  guides  the 
effort  is  one  that  brings  into  prominence 
the  social  relations  of  the  schools.  This 
progress  is  hampered  here  and  there  by  a 
considerable  inertia  for  which  individual- 
istic thinking  is  largely  responsible.  There 
are  also  positive  limitations  imposed  upon 
the  expansion  of  the  school's  social  service 
due  to  the  physical  environment.  Dis- 
tance, the  scattering  of  homes,  and  the 
small  populations  restrict  the  work  of 
the  most  efficient  consolidated  school  at 
some  points  where  it  tries  to  perform  the 
largest  possible  social  service. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  urban 
school  is  far  less  social  than  it  wishes  to  be. 
Under  the  spell  of  our  own  recent  educa- 
tional experience  it  is  difficult  for  us,  who 
have  to  do  with  educating  institutions,  to 
see  the  radical  changes  that  modern  life 
demands  of  the  schools  and  colleges.  We 
add  socializing  efforts  without  removing 
the  individual  viewpoint  that  has  gotten 
into  school  studies  and  professional  habits. 
The  failures  of  the  city  schools  are  less 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     159 

apparent  because  the  atmosphere  of  urban 
life  is  itself  socializing.  The  walk  or  ride 
to  the  city  school  is  likely  to  make  some 
contribution  of  socializing  character  even 
to  the  unobservant  child.  It  is  still  true 
that  the  education  outside  of  the  schools, 
the  spontaneous  instruction  provided  by 
the  children  themselves  in  addition  to  the 
publicly  constructed  school,  impresses  it- 
self most  upon  the  childish  mind.  The 
urban  school  is  greatly  strengthened  in  its 
social  function  by  this  by-product  of 
school  attendance.  It  is  aided  also  by 
the  fact  that  the  public  is  more  critical 
respecting  its  service.  In  the  country 
we  find  the  reverse.  The  by-products  of 
education  deepen  character,  but  on  the 
whole  tend  toward  individualism.  The 
community  also  is  not  asking  for  a  large 
social  contribution  from  the  schools,  and 
this  loss  of  public  pressure  toward  social 
effort  is  in  the  country  very  serious. 

The  consolidated  school,  modern  in 
equipment  and  in  spirit,  adds  greatly  to 
the  effectiveness  of  rural  education  as  a 


160   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

socializing  agency.  In  spite  of  limitations 
inherent  in  rural  environment,  the  con- 
solidated school  is  by  instinct  social,  and 
its  community  service  is  therefore  being 
enriched  by  its  successful  experience.  It 
will  increasingly  relate  its  work  to  the 
needs  of  the  community  and  to  the  de- 
mands of  the  home  and  will  add  to  its 
socializing  function  by  assuming  new  lines 
of  service.  Large  as  is  its  present  con- 
tribution, in  the  near  future  it  will  be 
much  greater.  The  consolidated  school 
has  enabled  rural  education  to  assume 
new  undertakings  and  this  is  most  for- 
tunate, for  the  old  type  of  rural  school 
has  about  reached  the  limit  of  its  social 
service. 

It  is  safe  to  assume  that  neither  in  the 
city  nor  country  are  we  likely  to  over- 
estimate the  influence  of  the  press.  The 
daily  and  weekly  paper  have  a  wide 
circulation  among  rural  people  and  furnish 
a  source  of  penetrating  and  persistent 
social  influence  all  the  more  significant 
because  the  readers  are  little  conscious  of 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     161 

what  they  receive  from  their  reading. 
Into  the  most  remote  places  the  paper 
goes  and  is  received  with  avidity.  The 
appeal  is  to  human  interest  and  is  based 
upon  the  entire  hierarchy  of  instincts. 
No  agency  more  successfully  socializes. 
It  affords  a  mental  connection  with  dis- 
tant places  that  is  a  good  antidote  for 
the  physical  loneliness  in  the  country, 
which  many  living  there  experience.  It 
prevents  the  stagnation  that  comes  from 
concentration  upon  the  interests  of  the 
day  and  neighborhood,  for  it  draws  the 
attention  of  the  reader  out  into  the  world 
of  business  and  affairs.  It  keeps  country 
people  from  a  too  great  class  character 
by  charging  the  rural  mind  with  the 
effects  of  modern  civilization  and  of 
necessity  brings  rural  and  urban  people 
into  a  more  sympathetic  relation.  If  it 
invites  some  to  the  city — as  it  certainly 
does — it  also  makes  the  country  a  more 
satisfying  and  safer  environment  for  those 
who  remain.  Fortunately  the  papers  are 
themselves  sensitive  to  modern  thought 


162       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

and  therefore  attempt  propaganda  of  a 
constructive  social  character.  If  the  appeal 
to  human  interests  causes  these  educa- 
tional efforts  to  err  respecting  scientific 
accuracy,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  hi 
spite  of  this  fault  the  articles  have  a 
beneficent  effect  in  protecting  the  country 
from  the  excessive  conservatism  that  isola- 
tion tends  to  bring.  The  newspaper  is 
the  great  gregarious  meeting  place  of  the 
minds  of  men  and  therefore  it  serves  to 
develop  mental  association  in  a  most 
intense  manner.  The  weekly  paper  also 
serves  a  large  constituency  in  the  country 
and  on  the  whole  probably  socializes  in  a 
more  profound  degree  than  the  daily. 
The  weekly  permits  the  rural  reader  to 
associate  with  the  leaders  of  popular 
thought  and  builds  up  that  enthusiastic 
conviction  which  leadership  always  ob- 
tains. The  leaders  of  the  country  districts 
in  this  manner  come  into  fellowship  with 
the  thinking  of  urban  men  of  influence. 
The  farm  paper  is  not  to  be  overlooked 
in  a  survey  of  the  influence  of  the  press 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     163 

upon  country  life.  Its  little  value  as  a 
professional  journal  because  of  its  un- 
scientific character  is  in  many  instances 
a  great  handicap  upon  the  progress  of 
agriculture,  but  even  when  these  papers 
fail  in  having  real  worth  for  the  industry 
of  farming  they  do  extend  professional 
fellowship  by  encouraging  harmony  and 
enthusiasm.  And  as  a  whole  the  value 
of  these  papers,  aside  from  their  socializing 
influence,  is  increasing  as  they  are  more 
and  more  influenced  by  scientific  investi- 
gation. 

Secret  societies  and  benevolent  orders 
have  a  large  following  among  rural  and 
village  people.  They  are  popular  because 
they  perform  a  very  valuable  social  ser- 
vice. No  institution  carries  on  its  social 
function  with  greater  success,  and  for  this 
reason  it  is  rather  strange  that  rural 
sociology  has  not  studied  these  organiza- 
tions more  seriously.  Because  they  afford 
fellowship,  recreation,  and  comradeship, 
their  appeal  is  very  great  indeed  to  those 
who  feel  the  hardships  of  physical  isola- 


164       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

tion.  These  societies  do  not  limit  their 
usefulness  to  community  welfare  in  a 
narrow  sense,  for  they  tie  their  following 
to  similar  organizations  in  other  localities 
and  make  possible  an  exchange  of  interests 
that  socializes  in  a  marked  degree.  It  is 
true  that  each  serves  a  limited  number 
of  people  in  the  community,  but  the 
cleavage  is  along  natural  lines  and  does 
not  provoke  feuds  or  neighborhood  hos- 
tility. 

The  one  great  danger  that  they  create 
in  some  small  places  is  the  fact  that 
there  are  so  many  of  them  that  they 
capture  nearly  every  evening  of  the  week 
and  make  it  difficult  for  any  community- 
wide  enterprise  to  obtain  a  free  evening 
to  bring  all  the  people  together.  It  is 
also  true  that  some  of  them  fail  to  take 
a  serious  interest  in  the  community  wel- 
fare, being  content  merely  to  enjoy  the 
fellowship  that  they  make  possible. 

This  latter  criticism  cannot  be  justly 
made  respecting  the  rural  society  strongest 
in  the  eastern  section  of  the  country — 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     165 

the  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  This  society, 
popularly  known  as  the  Grange,  affords 
contact  with  outside  organizations,  but  it 
also  takes  a  very  practical  and  sane  in- 
terest in  its  own  community.  No  move- 
ment has  done  more  to  conserve  the  best 
of  country  life;  no  organization  has  in  the 
country  maintained  so  sincere  a  democ- 
racy. Unlike  most  secret  societies,  it  has 
made  a  family  appeal  and  has  interested 
husband,  wife,  and  children.  It  has  taken 
a  constructive  attitude  toward  legislation 
of  importance  to  farmers,  and  rural  life 
has  certainly  become  greatly  indebted  to 
its  efficient  socializing  efforts. 

The  enterprise  most  successfully  social- 
izing country  life  is  the  business  of  farm- 
ing itself.  The  farmer,  who  once  main- 
tained so  large  a  degree  of  economic  inde- 
pendence, has  of  necessity  become  a  man 
of  commerce,  as  seriously  concerned  and 
nearly  as  consciously  interested  in  business 
conditions  as  the  city  merchant.  This 
situation  is  one  of  the  burdens  of  farming. 
The  farmer  must  both  produce  and  sell 


166       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

his  crop.     Lack  of  skill  in  either  under- 
taking may  mean  failure. 

Economic  pressure  forces  attention. 
The  pain  penalty,  the  product  of  bad 
adjustment  to  the  demands  of  the  occa- 
sion, commands  respect.  The  farmer  feels 
this  pressure  of  economic  conditions  just 
as  any  other  man  of  business.  He  is  not 
free  to  isolate  himself  and  enjoy  the 
economic  security  of  fifty  years  ago.  Any 
indifference  that  he  may  assume  toward 
the  business  world  is  likely  to  bring  him 
economic  punishment  which  will  teach 
him  his  economic  dependence  as  no  argu- 
ment could.  It  follows  that  the  farmer's 
attention  is  driven  from  family  and  neigh- 
borhood affairs  out  into  the  modern  world 
with  all  its  complexities.  He  thinks  in 
social  terms,  because  from  experience  he 
has  learned  his  social  dependence  in  mat- 
ters that  concern  the  pocketbook.  With 
painful  evidences  of  his  economic  inter- 
relations in  mind,  he  tends  to  become 
tolerant  regarding  movements  that  at- 
tempt to  socialize  his  community  life.  He 


RURAL  SOCIALIZING  AGENCIES     167 

realizes  that  the  independence  of  his 
fathers  has  gone  not  to  return  and  that 
his  happiness  as  well  as  his  prosperity 
depend  upon  his  opportunity  to  become 
well  established  in  social  relations. 

No  experience  in  the  business  of  farm- 
ing is  so  impressive  as  that  of  membership 
in  a  cooperative  enterprise.  Whether  the 
undertaking  fails  or  succeeds,  it  certainly 
teaches  the  member  the  meaning  of  social 
interrelations.  Often  it  fails  because  the 
mental  and  moral  preparation  for  suc- 
cessful working  together  is  lacking.  This 
is  not  strange,  for  rural  life  in  the  past 
has  done  little  to  build  up  a  social  view- 
point and  the  strain  placed  upon  indi- 
vidual purposes  in  any  cooperative  effort 
is  necessarily  great.  Cooperation  is  never 
so  easy  as  it  sounds  in  theory,  but  eco- 
nomic conditions  are  making  it  necessary 
in  many  rural  localities  if  farming  is  to 
continue  a  profitable  industry.  Under 
pressure  the  farmers  will  develop  the 
ability  to  cooperate.  In  this  they  are  like 
other  people,  for  cooperation  seldom  comes 


168   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

until  circumstances  press  hard  upon  people 
who  hopelessly  try  to  meet  individually 
conditions  that  can  be  successfully  coped 
with  only  by  a  cooperative  attack.  We 
therefore  must  not  pass  hasty  judgment 
upon  the  failures  in  cooperative  efforts 
among  country  people.  All  such  expe- 
riences have  some  part  in  the  better 
socializing  of  rural  thinking. 

Without  opposition  to  those  who  are 
placing  emphasis  upon  other  lines  of  rural 
advance,  as  social  workers,  we  must  keep 
ever  before  rural  leadership  the  enormous 
importance  that  social  conditions  have  for 
the  prosperity,  wholesomeness,  sanity,  and 
happiness  of  rural  life.  Every  agency 
that  has  social  value  for  country  life  must 
realize  to  the  fullest  degree  possible  its 
socializing  functions  if  it  covets  for  itself 
fundamental  social  service. 


THE  WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE 


XI 
THE  WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE 

What  will  be  the  influence  of  this 
world  war  upon  rural  life?  This  question 
is  constantly  before  the  mind  of  thought- 
ful people  who  are  lovers  of  country  life 
and  interested  in  rural  prosperity.  Of 
course  it  is  much  too  soon  to  answer  this 
question  in  detail  or  with  certainty.  It 
is  true,  nevertheless,  that  already  we  can 
see  evidences  of  the  influence  the  present 
war  is  having  upon  the  conditions  of 
country  life.  It  is  also  possible,  perhaps, 
to  discover  the  direction  in  which  other 
influences,  born  of  the  war,  are  likely 
to  have  significance  for  rural  welfare.  It 
is  certainly  most  unreasonable  for  anyone 
to  suppose  that  this  terrible  war  of  the 
nations  will  not  greatly  influence  country 
conditions  and  country  people. 

One  result  is  not  a  matter  for  argument. 
The  great  war  has  forced  public  attention 
171 


172   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

upon  the  problems  of  food  production, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the__sQgial  impor- 
tance of  Jhp  work  of  rovmtry  people~lias 
revealed,  so  that  even  the 


least  thoughtful  has  some  realization  orthe~ 

^  _^^- 

indispensable  lndustriar~contribution  ren- 
dered to  society  by  those  who  till  the  soil. 

Has  this  nation  ever  before  had  such  a 
serious  realization  of  the  social  importance 
of  the  agricultural  industry?  The  pros- 
perity of  agriculture  has  become  the  na- 
tion's concern,  because  these  war  days 
are  revealing  how  certainly  farming  is  the 
basic  enterprise  of  industry.  And  our 
experiences  are  those  of  the  entire  civilized 
world.  It  is  not  at  all  strange,  therefore, 
that  thoughtful  students  and  public  ad- 
ministrators the  world  over  are  earnestly 
studying  how  to  foster  the  farming  in- 
terests, not  only  during  the  war  but  also 
after  it  is  over. 

Before  August,  1914,  there  were  few 
people  who  realized  that,  under  the  con- 
ditions of  modern  welfare,  one  question 
of  greatest  national  importance  is  how 


WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE      173 

nearly  the  nation  at  conflict  can  produce 
the  food  necessary  for  its  existence.  It 
is  unlikely  that  the  nations  will  soon 
forget  this  lesson  that  they  have  been 
taught  by  the  ordeals  of  this  world  war. 
Agricultural  dependence  is  for  any  nation 
a  very  serious  military  weakness 

Nations  that  cannot  feed  themselves1 
must  first  of  all  use  their  military  power 
to  make  it  possible  to  import  the  needed 
food.  This,  of  course,  is  a  military 
handicap,  for  it  removes  military  resources 
from  the  strategic  points  for  defence  or 
attack,  that  lines  of  communication  with 
other  nations  that  are  furnishing  food 
may  be  kept  open.  The  more  nearly 
nations  are  able  to  obtain  from  theft 
own  cultivated  land  sufficient  food  stuff, 
the  more  effectively  they  can  use  their 
army  and  navy  in  strategic  military  service. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  that  this 
great  lesson  can  be  forgotten  by  our 
generation.  Perhaps  this  is  the  largest 
result  that  the  war  will  yield  within  the 
field  of  rural  interests.  National  leaders 


174       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

as  never  before  will  consider  every  possi- 
ble method  by  which  farming  can  be 
made  profitable,  satisfying,  and  socially 
appreciated.  This  policy  will  be  under- 
taken not  merely  for  the  sake  of  the 
farmer,  but  also  as  a  means  of  providing 
national  safety. 

The  war  already  has  disclosed  the 
tendency  of  national  policy  to  regard 
the  uses  made  of  farming  land  as  a  matter 
for  social  concern.  In  England,  France, 
and  Germany  especially  we  have  had,  as 
a  result  of  war  conditions,  public  control 
exercised  regarding  the  uses  made  of 
private  land.  Certain  crops  have  been 
outlawed.  Others  have  been  stimulated 
and  encouraged  by  the  action  of  the 
government.  It  has  proved  wise  to  estab- 
lish this  control  over  the  uses  made  of 
productive  land.  Of  course,  war  has 
furnished  the  motive  and  made  possible 
the  success  of  this  practical  public  con- 
trol of  land  resources.  Indeed,  before 
the  war,  no  one  could  have  imagined  that 
England,  for  example,  could  have  been 


WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE      175 

led  to  so  great  a  public  control  of  the 
uses  of  productive  land  as  has  already 
resulted  from  the  war. 

Already  we  find  some  people  advocating 
that  the  government  continue  after  the 
war  to  exercise  a  degree  of  such  control 
over  the  uses  made  of  private  lands  and 
it  attempt  to  conserve  national  safety  by 
stimulating  the  production  of  staple  crops. 
At  least  for  a  time  it  will  be  difficult  to 
win  converts  to  the  proposition  that  the 
public  has  no  interest  in  what  people 
who  own  productive  land  may  do  with 
their  property.  By  education,  if  not  by 
legislation,  the  wiser  nations  are  likely 
to  attempt  consciously  to  direct  produc- 
tion for  social  welfare.  Probably  some 
nations  will  not  hesitate  to  subsidize  the 
cultivation  of  certain  crops  in  order  to 
keep  agriculture  in  a  condition  of  pre- 
paredness for  the  trials  of  war. 

Whenever  the  war  ceases,  one  of  the 
problems  that  will  immediately  face  all 
the  warring  nations  will  be  how  best  to 
get  great  numbers  of  soldiers  and  sailors 


176       RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

back  into  productive  industry.  The  task 
will  be  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  all  human 
history.  We  find  in  Europe  those  who 
advocate  that  the  government  should 
place  many  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  back 
upon  the  land  by  making  practicable  a 
system  of  small  farms.  To  some  this 
appears  the  wise  way  to  help  the  par- 
tially disabled  soldiers  and  sailors.  The 
problem  of  men  suffering  from  ner- 
vous instability  deserves  special  attention. 
Many  who  have  seen  service  will  return 
with  slight  nervous  difficulties  that  will 
handicap  them  in  certain  forms  of  urban 
industry.  Their  best  protection  from 
serious  disorders  will  be  in  many  cases 
opportunity  to  engage  in  agriculture.  At 
this  point  the  question  of  competition 
with  experienced  farmers  who  suffer  from 
no  disability  naturally  arises.  Experience 
may  prove  that  the  government  can 
wisely  give  financial  assistance  to  those 
placed  on  the  land,  by  government  aid 
in  one  form  or  another,  to  protect  them 
in  their  undertakings. 


WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE      177 

It  has  been  pointed  out  by  European 
students  that  the  small  farm  is  not  likely 
to  increase  much  the  production  of  the 
staple  crops,  since  in  Europe  garden  truck 
is  more  easily  handled  by  those  who 
cultivate  small  farms.  Because  of  this 
fact,  the  effort  of  the  government  to 
encourage  the  growing  of  staple  crops  for 
purposes  of  national  safety  is  likely  to  be 
independent  of  the  movement  to  place 
soldiers  and  sailors  on  the  land.  In 
Europe  the  success  of  the  small  farms 
appears  to  be  conditioned  largely  by  the 
ability  of  the  land  owners  to  cooperate. 
Stress  will  have  to  be  placed  upon  the 
development  of  the  spirit  of  cooperation, 
and  this,  fortunately,  will  have  a  social 
influence  in  addition  to  its  economic 
advantages.  How  much  governments  may 
do  to  encourage  the  building  up  of  efficient 
cooperative  enterprises  is  more  or  less 
problematical,  but  the  experience  of  Den- 
mark teaches  that  more  can  be  done 
than  has  been  done  by  most  govern- 
ments. 


178   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  the  war 
has  stimulated  cooperation  in  Europe. 
None  of  the  countries  illustrates  this 
more  than  Russia.  January  1,  1914, 
there  were  about  10,000,000  members  of 
cooperative  societies  or  about  5.8  per  cent 
of  the  total  population.  In  1916  this 
membership  had  increased  to  15,000,000. 
Counting  in  the  families  of  the  cooperators, 
it  is  estimated  that  67,500,000  people  in 
Russia  are  interested  in  cooperative  enter- 
prises, or  about  39  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation. We  find  that  development  of 
cooperation  in  consumption  has  been  in 
Russia  directly  related  to  the  pressure  for 
food  due  to  war  conditions.  The  large 
majority  of  Russian  cooperative  societies 
are  rural.1  Other  countries,  notably 
England  and  France,  have  also  felt  the 
influence  of  the  war  in  increasing  the 
development  of  cooperation. 

In  America  we  are  still  too  distant  from 
the  bitter  consequences  of  war  to  feel 

1  International  Review  of  Agricultural  Economics, 
August,  1917. 


WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE      179 

the  need  of  planning  for  the  care  of  the 
crippled  and  nervously  injured  soldiers. 
Imagination  will  not  allow  us  to  picture 
the  returning  of  the  soldiers  as  a  prob- 
lem. Our  remarkable  success  in  getting 
the  soldiers  back  into  industry  after  the 
Civil  War  gives  us  a  strong  sense  of  se- 
curity when  we  do  consider  the  matter. 
Probably  if  the  war  continues  for  several 
years  our  problem  after  this  war  will  be 
more  serious  than  it  was  in  1865.  In 
any  case  we  shall  have  a  considerable 
number  of  those  who,  because  of  physical 
or  nervous  injuries,  will  require  public 
assistance  of  a  constructive  character. 
If  such  men  can  be  made  fully  or  even 
partly  self-supporting  by  being  placed  on 
land  it  will  help  both  them  and  the  food 
productiveness  of  the  nation.  Of  course, 
this  form  of  public  aid,  like  every  other 
method  of  giving  assistance,  has  its  polit- 
ical and  economic  dangers.  The  prosperity 
of  other  farmers  must  not  be  disturbed. 
So  many  interests  are  involved  that  the 
entire  problem  demands  time  for  serious 


180   RURAL  PROBLEMS  OF  TODAY 

discussion,  so  that  we  may  not  be  troubled 
by  hasty,  half-baked  legislation. 

Anyone  who  has  visited  an  army  canton- 
ment has  felt  the  gregarious  atmosphere 
of  army  service.  For  a  few  men  this  is 
the  most  trying  experience  connected  with 
the  service.  Others  find  in  it  the  supreme 
satisfaction.  Every  soldier  is  influenced 
by  it  more  or  less.  What  will  it  mean 
to  the  soldier  who  has  come  into  the  army 
from  the  small  country  place?  We  know, 
as  a  result  of  what  social  workers  among 
the  soldiers  tell  us,  that  the  country  boy 
is  often  very  sensitive  to  this  enormous 
change  from  an  isolated  rural  neighbor- 
hood to  the  closest  contact  possible  in  a 
community  which  is  literally  a  great  city. 
By  necessity  the  recruits  from  the  country 
are  forced  into  the  conditions  of  city  life, 
into  an  environment  that  is  more  gre- 
garious than  any  normal  urban  center 
experiences.  What  result  is  this  likely 
to  have  upon  the  future  social  needs  of 
the  men  from  rural  districts?  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  many  of  them  will  not  be 


WORLD  WAR  AND  RURAL  LIFE      181 

content  again  in  the  country.  They  will 
have  developed  cravings  that  the  country- 
life  environment  cannot  satisfy.  For  this 
reason  it  is  not  likely  that  the  placing 
of  former  soldiers  and  sailors  on  the  land 
will  have  in  any  country  all  the  success 
desired.  Much  will  depend  upon  who 
are  selected  to  go  into  the  country.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  safe  to  predict  that 
this  war  will  add  momentum  to  the  city- 
drift  of  our  population  and  increase  the 
number  of  those  who  form  the  mobile 
class  of  rural  laborers. 


4629     6 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


Form  L-0 
20m-l,'42(SoI9) 


000  473  308 


UNIVERSITY  of  CALIFORNia 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 
LIBRARY 


